AI to revolutionize education and workplace skills
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — A recent gathering hosted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) explored how artificial intelligence could transform student assessments and employer hiring practices.
The symposium, titled “Responsible AI and the Future of Skills,” brought together 200 experts from academia and industry to discuss the integration of AI in learning and skill evaluation processes.
Amit Sevak, CEO of ETS, highlighted findings from a survey of 17,000 adults which showed that 78% believe that continual skill acquisition, such as certificates or licenses, will soon be as valued as traditional degrees.
“Learners are challenging the traditional notion that a degree is a sufficient signal for what I can do,” Sevak said. He emphasized the growing need for ways to demonstrate practical competencies in a changing job market.
The importance of durable skills
During a panel on soft skills, now referred to as “durable skills,” Lydia Liu, associate vice president of research at ETS, discussed how AI could improve the assessment of complex skills.
“Now with AI, we can look at body language, you can leverage multimodal assessments—we do eye tracking analysis, we analyze facial expressions, we capture gesture, posture,” Liu explained, noting that traditional assessments often overlook these nonverbal communication elements.
Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at The Harris Poll, added that as AI begins to automate technical tasks, interpersonal skills such as creativity and collaboration will become increasingly critical for job seekers.
“Those things will become even more important in some cases than technical skills because technical skills will be automated in a 10-year, 20-year timeline.”
Embracing the AI-driven future
While major shifts won’t happen overnight, employers are ready for change, said Johnny Taylor of the Society for Human Resource Management.
“What keeps HR professionals up at night is that they can’t find the right people with the right work ethic and the right skills,” Taylor stated.
As AI automates work previously done by college graduates, Taylor believes “degrees are valuable but can’t be the only way we decide who has talent and who doesn’t… we need to reskill them for jobs of the future.”
The World Economic Forum (WEF) previously emphasized the critical role of upskilling and development as various disruptive trends, like generative AI, are poised to reshape the global workforce landscape.
The discussions at the event reflected a consensus that while AI’s impact on education and the workforce will be profound, the transition to these new systems will require careful implementation to ensure they benefit everyone.
