Democratisation of AI is not only making every individual an AI consumer, but also, through the medium of no-code AI tools, empowering even non-technical users to become AI creators. With AI consumption and creation becoming rampant, organisations are facing challenging questions around responsible use, more so with generative AI with its share of legal and ethical risks. Therefore, I expect that in 2025, enabling generative AI adoption across the enterprise without compromising employee trust will be a top priority of employers. There will be a strong focus on adhering to responsible AI principles — transparency in AI systems, fair and unbiased models, ethical innovation, equal access, inclusivity and respect for human rights.Integrating AI with human capabilities
Employees are increasingly seeking purpose and meaning from their jobs. They want to do work that will help them become a better version of themselves. AI is already beginning to take over rote tasks. Employees will need to hone new skills to excel in functions that are higher-level, and more strategic. AI itself can help employees identify skill gaps, recommend new skills and create tailored learning paths. Leaders, hence, must develop skilling initiatives to prepare their people for the evolving future of work. People will need to better prepare to focus on uniquely human activities, such as innovation, creative thinking and continuous learning. For example, while AI can provide insights based on data, humans give it meaning and purpose. Hence, in 2025, employers should focus on building this Human-plus-AI work model — integrating AI with human capabilities to amplify the latter — while upskilling their employees so they can “be the I in AI”.
Empowering employees with AI tools to navigate careers
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As co-pilots and smart assistants, AI will amplify human effort to act as the ultimate employee champion. The workplace will evolve to be the hub of human-machine collaborations. Employers should curate the right AI tools to suit the needs of different employees, and support them with appropriate resources, so they can grow in AI proficiency. It is equally critical to sensitise employees to use AI (and its data) responsibly, by making them aware of data privacy and consent norms, and secure usage practices, not least because open-source models and low-code/ no-code tools are making it easier for both developers and non-technical employees to create and modify AI solutions.
Leveraging technology to build a culture of lifelong learning
Job skills are facing unprecedented churn with new skills appearing every few years and old ones becoming obsolescent at an increasing rate. Employers must create a culture of lifelong learning to enable employees to pick up new, in-demand, skills several times in their careers. Lifelong learning occurs on the job, with each employee learning at his or her own speed and scale, as and when required. Artificial intelligence will be a huge enabler of continuous learning personalised at scale: it can identify the unique skilling needs of individual employees, and curate a customised learning programme in real-time at affordable cost. As the employee progresses, AI adapts the training programme to ensure that learning is dynamic and highly contextual. We expect that in the coming year, organisations will ramp up the use of AI-enabled platforms to enable learning. Incidentally, this will also produce a key collateral advantage — making non-technical employees more confident about using AI at work. Many employees are already using AI at work. The right AI tools, continuous learning and a Responsible AI framework will enable them to leverage this revolutionary technology safely, effectively and confidently.
