Experts are convinced that, barring some highly repetitive tasks, 2025 will bring not large-scale job displacement but augmentation and a higher degree of human-AI collaboration, with greater innovation fostering more complex and creative work.
“While we expect to see AI replace rote and routine tasks that can easily be automated, we will also see humans playing the new roles of shaping, orchestrating and leading AI work to provide greater value through higher-level, strategic, innovative and creative roles, emphasizing the importance of upskilling the workforce,” said Peter Marrs, president, Asia Pacific & Japan, Dell Technologies.
Marrs added that the human element will remain key and AI will become an essential skill for everyone in 2025.
According to Ganesh Natarajan, chairman, GTT Data, 5F World, and Honeywell Automation, basic programming and testing jobs in the IT sector will disappear soon but the more substantial impact will be seen only 2-3 years from now when 20% of jobs could be at risk of collapsing, although new jobs will emerge too. In the longer term, even roles like design can be taken over by tools like ChatGPT.
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People cannot take jobs for granted, Natarajan said. “The future requirement is dual intelligence, which means human intelligence which can understand AI and make it work.”Roles in IT helpdesk, data entry and processing, network security, coding and testing are in the line of fire. The demand for some of these repetitive roles has declined by 25-30% over the past two years, according to data from Teamlease Digital. For instance, 40% of organisations reported a reduction in job postings for manual testing roles.
“AI will not replace jobs or help you do lesser number of hours,” said Pawan Prabhat, cofounder, Shorthills AI. “People will be able to do more in the same number of hours.”
The technological advancement will lead to an increase in the overall quantum of work, Prabhat said, adding that the apprehensions around joblessness fall into the trap of the ‘lump of labour fallacy’, which sees work as finite without accounting for productive forces and growth unleashed by technological progress.
