How AI threat is putting workers in a quandary about their jobs

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being integrated into various job functions, raising questions about which roles might be eliminated and what workers need to do to safeguard their careers, analysts say.

Companies are doubling down on harnessing the power of AI by creating top-level roles, such as that of a chief AI officer and chief data and analytics officer, sharpening their focus on the technology to reap its benefits, Arun Chandrasekaran, vice president at research firm Gartner, told The National.

"AI has been a domain with a continued increase in new role creation ... and can benefit a broad suite of roles within the enterprise. Almost all functions within the enterprise will be impacted by AI, although the degree of impact would vary," he said.

"As many of the routine and low-level tasks get automated, it frees up time for tech workers to focus on more value-added tasks that have a direct impact on business value."

Roles such as AI engineers, data scientists and data engineers are becoming sought after. And titles such AI ethicists and AI architects are expected to become more common, Mr Chandrasekaran said.

Those who embrace AI are expected to benefit, and those who behind the curve need to upskill or their services "might get compared with AI-enabled intelligent machines", said Harish Dunakhe, senior research director at the International Data Corporation, said.

"Most jobs that perform repetitive and mundane tasks are getting automated by robotic process automation. However, the intelligent automation is fundamentally questioning the ‘need’ for many tasks and hence many jobs and roles are getting eliminated," he told The National.

A recent report by Goldman Sachs said AI could cost the world the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs across major economies.

The growing adoption of AI technology can help boost global economic growth — annual global gross domestic product could grow 7 per cent in the 10 years after at least half of companies worldwide use AI — and raise labour productivity, the US investment bank's report found.

AI in the workplace is not new — bots being used in customer service roles and self-driving cars are among good examples — but it has significantly gained momentum with the advent of generative AI, which is seen to potentially replace human roles.

The technology — made popular by the OpenAI's ChatGPT — can produce various kinds of data, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, 3D objects and videos. While it takes cues from existing data, it is also capable of generating new and unexpected outputs, according to GenerativeAI.net.

Investors poured in more than $4.2 billion through 215 deals into generative AI start-ups in 2021 and 2022 after interest surged in 2019, data from CB Insights showed.

About $586 million in 20 deals during the same period has gone to generative interfaces, it said.

It has also caught the attention of Twitter chief executive Elon Musk, who this week said he plans to develop a new "truth-seeking" generative AI platform to challenge Microsoft-backed ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.

Indeed, AI has already disrupted the workforce, particularly in lower-level roles, but it is still uncertain how it would affect jobs at higher levels, especially in tasks that still require human intervention for operations to function properly and safely.

"AI has taken away the need for many less advanced, [mid-level] roles that can now be automated which has had a big impact on these types of roles, but we are yet to see AI significantly impact more advanced roles," John Armstrong, founder and managing director of Dubai-based recruitment firm JCA Associates, told The National.

"A jumbo jet can fly itself, but still requires a pilot and support crew."

Non-IT jobs across industries such as retail, manufacturing, transportation, oil and gas, finance, logistics and shipping are expected to undergo a massive transformation since business processes would rapidly change with AI being at the core, IDC's Mr Dunakhe said.

We are yet to see AI significantly impact more advanced roles ... a jumbo jet can fly itself, but still requires a pilot and support crew

John Armstrong,
founder and managing director of JCA Associates

"Jobs that deal with organisational data to analyse and present relevant information, or identify meaningful insights and patterns from the data might get impacted," he said.

Meanwhile, AI can also prove to be beneficial for a broad range of roles, from customer service, sales, marketing, communications, IT, research and development, finance and human resources, Mr Chandrasekaran said.

This highlights the need for workers to upskill or reskill themselves with AI, or they will face steep competition from the younger AI-equipped workers who do not have the baggage of older skills, he said.

"The skills needed for the future will be radically different than they are today," Mr Dunakhe added.

How to report a beggar

Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)

Dubai – Call 800243

Sharjah – Call 065632222

Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372

Ajman – Call 067401616

Umm Al Quwain – Call 999

Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411

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8.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh105,000 (D) 1,900m

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9.25pm Dubai Trophy (TB) Conditions Dh183,650 (T) 1,200m

10pm Handicap (TB) Dh102,500 (T) 1,400m

Guide to intelligent investing

Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:

Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.

While you're here

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Nicky Harley: Peace TV preacher Zakir Naik prompts UK hate laws review

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5

Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme

Priority access to new homes from participating developers
Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
Flexible payment plans from developers
Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates

EPL's youngest

Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal)
15 years, 181 days old
Max Dowman (Arsenal)
15 years, 235 days old
Jeremy Monga (Leicester)
15 years, 271 days old
Harvey Elliott (Fulham)
16 years, 30 days old
Matthew Briggs (Fulham)
16 years, 68 days old

BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat

Red flags

Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League, semi-final result:

Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona

Liverpool win 4-3 on aggregate

Champions Legaue final: June 1, Madrid

The biog:

Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian

Favourite food: Pizza

Best food on the road: rice

Favourite colour: silver

Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda

Favourite biking destination: Canada

The%20specs

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Essentials

The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.

What is the FNC?

The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.

Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

Labour dispute

The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.

- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law

ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS

- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns

- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;

- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces

- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,

- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.

Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.