AI to transform 92% of tech jobs, industry giants call for upskilling
CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Tech giants have released a report on the transformative impact of generative AI on the information and communication technology (ICT) sector and how upskilling and reskilling are needed to remain competitive.
“The Transformational Opportunity of AI on ICT Jobs” report was released by the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, comprising major tech companies like Google, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Intel, Cisco, Accenture, Indeed, and Eightfold AI.
“AI represents a never-before-seen opportunity for technology to benefit humankind in every way, and we have to act intentionally to make sure populations don’t get left behind,” said Francine Katsoudas, Chief People, Policy & Purpose Officer, Cisco, and founding member of the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium.
“Across the Consortium member companies, we have made it our collective responsibility to train and upskill 95 million people over the next 10 years. By investing in a long-term roadmap for an inclusive workforce, we can help everyone participate and thrive in the era of AI.”
Major disruption across the ICT workforce
The report predicts that over 92% of ICT jobs will undergo significant changes due to the integration of AI technologies.
Analyzing 47 ICT job roles across seven job families, it found that AI will impact 96% of entry-level and 84% of mid-level positions.
Jobs were categorized into low, moderate, or high transformation levels, with moderate and high indicating that at least 50% of principal skills will be affected by AI.
The most substantial transformations are expected in business and management, design and user experience, and testing and quality assurance.
In the business and management category, 62.5% of roles were identified as high transformation and 37.5% as moderate. AI is projected to assist in creating product strategies, providing predictive analytics, developing reports, and automating numerous processes.
Emerging skills for the AI era
The report emphasizes the need for workers to acquire new skills to remain competitive in the evolving job market. Skills such as AI ethics, AI literacy, prompt engineering, and machine learning are becoming increasingly relevant across various job families.
Here are the emerging skills, according to the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium:
- AI ethics and responsible AI
- Prompt engineering
- Large language model (LLM) architecture
- Agile methodologies
- Data analytics
- Machine learning
- Natural language processing (NLP)
On the other hand, skills like basic data analysis, manual data cleaning, and basic report generation are decreasing in relevance.
“Now, those in the ICT sector — from students to workers to employers — have the data about which jobs will change, how they will change, and what individuals and employers can do to prepare for this shift and remain competitive in the evolving global labor market,” said Lydia Logan, VP for global education and workforce development at IBM.
