Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697631733929.pdf (Australia)
The Future of Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines Dr. David Tuffley Griffith University A new wave of innovation is sweeping Australia.

The age of intelligent machines has arrived and great opportunities exist for those who learn to ride the wave by making artificial intelligence our partner, not our competitor in work.

Throughout history, new technology has always done away with some jobs and created new ones.
Productivity-improving technologies stimulate the economy through higher incomes and lower prices, which then create new jobs right across the economy.

Whether intelligent machines in the workforce will lead to a net gain in the number of jobs is an open question.

We simply don’t know yet, however it is certain that intelligent machines will radically reshape the workforce of tomorrow, reducing the number of low-skill jobs but increasing the number of high-skill jobs.
Government Initiatives To help Australia’s economy make the transition, the federal government in 2015 announced their $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda.

This broad-based policy outlines a long list of initiatives relating to technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The National Broadband Network (NBN) is a key aspect of the innovation agenda that aims to provide broadband internet as a major contributing element of the innovation agenda.
State and local governments across Australia likewise recognise the importance of investing in creating the right conditions for economic growth in the age of exponential technology growth by enacting their own policy initiatives.
Jobs of the future A recent report sponsored by the National Broadband Network (NBN) and the Regional Australia Institute makes the case that by 2030 fully half of Australians will need advanced IT skills, in addition to having well-developed soft skills like communication, creativity and critical thinking if they are to flourish in the labour market.
Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26 The report predicts three classes of work in the world of 2030:  Future jobs -- those based on specialist technology skills and which do not currently exist,  Changing jobs – those that exist now but which have evolved beyond their current form, sometimes radically, through the integration of technology, and  Fading jobs – those replaced by intelligent machines.
The report emphasises that almost everyone will need to be digitally literate, allowing them to communicate, find information, interact with government services and perform a wide range of other on-line activities like booking travel, banking and finance, buying and selling goods and services etc.

This applies to 90% of the population.

Becoming skilled on-line will not be too difficult to achieve, given the time and effort being put into improving the “user experience” by technology companies.
Hard and soft skills The key to success in the future labour market is to combine hard and soft skills into a well-integrated package, tailored to your individual talents.

Being able to combine skills like this is the advantage that humans have over machines.

Intelligent machines can be taught procedural skills, but it will be many years before they are capable of having a well-rounded set of soft skills.

A car- building robot does one thing very well, but has no idea how to interact with people.
So our challenge will be to learn how to program computers to do the things we want them to do.

With later generation programming languages it is quite possible for regular people to program computers.

You do not need to be a hard- core techie, though there will always be work for these.

What you will need if you are to interact with computers is a solid grounding in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.
This foundation is then enhanced with a range of people skills not traditionally associated with STEM.

Skills like communication, critical thinking, novel and adaptive thinking, entrepreneurship, design, social intelligence, cross-cultural competency, new media literacy, transdisciplinary, cognitive load management and virtual collaboration.

This is the full package of skills for success in the future labour market.
The more of these you can acquire and demonstrate, the greater your perceived value to an employer will be.

What jobs will be needed?

Employment specialists compile lists of what they think will be in demand, based on trends.

These are some of the jobs that appear on multiple lists.
The IT sector is likely to need: Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26 Information security analysts, big data analysts, artificial intelligence and robotics specialists, applications developers for mobile devices, web developers, database administrators, business intelligence analysts, gamification designers, business/systems analysts and ethicists.
In other disciplines, there will be a need for: Engineers of all kinds, accountants, lawyers, financial advisers, project managers, specialist doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, veterinarians, psychologists, health services managers, schoolteachers (K-12), market research analysts, sales reps and most trades (particularly bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians).

What jobs are going?


Theoretically, any job that can be described as a “process” could be done by an intelligent machine.

In reality though, many such jobs will continue to be done by humans because people still prefer to be served by other people.

Those that will be automated will tend to be those that can be done on-line at lower cost or for free, or those that are physically-demanding, boring, dirty, dangerous or remotely located.
Agricultural workers, miners, postal service workers, librarians, sewing machine operators, switchboard operators, typists, data entry clerks and word processor typist, video store clerk, travel agent.

Flexible work The workers of the future are likely to have not one job but a flexible portfolio of part-time or casual jobs that they operate in a more fluid way.

With virtual and augmented reality, jobs can be more location-independent, not tied to a city office.
You can have a balance of living somewhere pleasant and affordable while working at your desired job(s).

You could be living in a big city or somewhere more regional or even on a ship at sea – anywhere with broadband internet.

Success is limited only by your creativity and entrepreneurship.

Prosperity will come to those who find new niches in the market and create new businesses, and do so from virtually anywhere.
Tomorrow’s Jobs When The Future Laboratory teamed up with Microsoft to bring some clarity for career planners they produced Tomorrow's Jobs, a report that predicts some of the more important IT-related jobs of the future.

The Future Factory used a method that all of us can use to good effect.
First you look at the patterns coming forward from the past ten or twenty years, and Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26 then make predictions by projecting the same patterns into the future.

This is how to be proactive about seeing where the world is heading.

Virtual habitat designer Virtual reality is already gaining ground on conventional gaming.

It is likely to become a major force in consumer electronics into the future.
In China alone around 200 VR companies are absorbing the most talented designers, creating demand globally that have jumped 800% since 2014.

VR designers will become integral members of product design teams in the creation of new VR experiences running on ever-cheaper but more powerful equipment.

The designers most in demand will be those who combine the narrative skill of the game designer with the spatial awareness of the architect, urban designer and landscape architect.
These are the folks who will create fascinating virtual worlds that people will not want to leave.

Ethical technology advocate Much has been written about robots replacing humans, some of it quite scary and sensational.

Some process-driven jobs will certainly be automated.

But what of the jobs that robots and artificial intelligence (AI) will create?

The robotics engineer, AI specialist and maintenance worker will all be in demand.
But we will also need people who advise on how humans and robots should act towards each other.

We will also need to teach robots about our strange behaviour so they can react to us in the way that another human might.

These robot ethicists will have the important job of mediating between people and robots, advocating on behalf of the robots.

Why?

Because the general population may need some convincing that robots are a good thing to have around, and to counter the perception that they are dangerous.
In 2016 Germany allocated €200 million to research this area with other countries set to follow suit.

Digital cultural commentator Digital communication is evolving from text-based to being visual (pictures and video).

This is already happening as Pinterest and Instagram are growing faster than text-based platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
By the 2020s, visual communication is likely to be dominant, with multimedia artists, animators and illustrators being in greater demand by organisations wanting to communicate with a mass audience.

Visual skills such as animation will be complemented with music, text, object- oriented programming and augmented reality.

The ideal worker in this field blends advanced technology skills with the humanities.
They understand human nature and know how to use the latest technology to create compelling narratives.

Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26 Freelance biohacker Open-source software platforms combined with a tremendously information- rich internet is putting the tools of science within the reach of millions who were previously unable to participate in research.
This is giving rise to the citizen scientist, who is already proving that remarkable things are possible by motivated amateurs.

Beyond this, we will see the growth of crowd-sourcing to find solutions to complex medical and technological challenges.

For example, the open-source gene-editing tool CRISPR is being used by thousands of scientists to collaborate in search of cures for depression, schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer’s to name just a few.
By the 2020s, citizen science will have evolved into a viable career for millions of bioscience graduates with an entrepreneurial attitude.

Internet of things data creative By 2025 there will be billions of pervasively embedded devices in everyday objects that gather data about many things, the sheer quantity of which defies imagination.

We already call this Big Data but it is going to get much bigger.

Internet of things data creatives are analysts with creative flair.
They not only find the useful information buried in the data, they also know how to tell an engaging story with it.

The job will combine the technical skill of the data scientist with the communication skills of the digital cultural commentator mentioned earlier.

Their work will have a major impact in tomorrow’s hyper connected world.
Tough policy decisions According to the Future Workforce report sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) our nation faces some tough policy decisions to reshape its economy and prepare for a future in which technology is integrated into almost every aspect of life.

CEDA predict that up to five million jobs are likely to be automated by 2030.

These challenges are not confined to Australia either, they face every developed economy.
But we are a resourceful and resilient nation, more than capable of not just meeting the challenge, but being a world leader.

An example from Denmark The CEDA report recommends the policy framework used by Denmark.

Their approach has three aspects that Australia might put to good use:  flexibility around hiring and firing Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26   decent unemployment benefits seriously good re-skilling programs.
While more expensive, it is arguably a better long-term solution than our current policies are likely to provide.

It is investing in the human capital of a nation, taking the view that our people are our most valuable resource.

The emphasis is on educating and re-educating people for the jobs that exist now and which are likely to exist in the future.
This proactive approach will keep the emerging, technologically focused economy of the future well supplied with the skilled workers it needs for economic growth.

But won’t dole bludgers send us bankrupt?

No, not necessarily.

Australia, like Denmark, already has the same values of mutual obligation.

Society will look after you, and you have an obligation to contribute in the best way you can.

In Australia, we call this a “fair go”.


We are all capable of contributing in some way, and with the proper training we can have the opportunity to do so.

Australia is a resilient nation, its people are resourceful and imaginative.

With the technology to network our minds together, there are few problems that cannot be met and overcome.

Universal Basic Income One idea that is gaining recognition in the information age is that of the Universal Basic Income (UBI).
The idea is that the very expensive and complicated welfare system could be replaced by a single, non-means-tested monthly payment to everyone.

If our greatest asset resides in the human capital of our citizens, the UBI would allow people to start-up their own business, do volunteer work in their community, look after children and the elderly and do many other things besides.
The UBI would be given on the basis of a social contract that says if the community looks after you, you have an obligation to contribute to the community in whatever way you are best suited to do.

Economists have estimated that it could be paid for through the savings gained by dismantling the welfare system combined with the many indirect savings from a healthier, better educated and possibly more law-abiding population.
By 2020 and beyond, the number of unemployed people may reach the point where a UBI is a sensible way forward.

If implemented wisely, a UBI would help facilitate the knowledge economy of the future.

The bottom line To prepare well for the future, Australia needs to adopt a top-down and bottom-up approach.

Governments can provide the top-down input in the form of well thought-out and funded policies.
Individuals and communities can provide Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26 the bottom-up by focussing on acquiring the skills we know they will need.

These include being able to look at problems in new ways, seeing different angles and finding workable solutions that no-one has thought of before.

Be skilled in more than one discipline and combine these skills in ways not thought of before.

Being curious about the world in general is a big help here.
Most people limit their curiosity to only those areas they are interested in, but you should become someone who is interested in everything, whether you can see the point of it or not.

The “point” will often become apparent later.

Know how to use the latest technology tools to model ideas and create prototypes, then test those prototypes again and again until you have something really useful.
That brilliant end-product never emerges fully formed from the initial idea, it always has to go through repeated prototyping cycles.

Having an open mind and being open to new and unfamiliar ideas is vital.

You should have few fixed ideas about how things should be done, realizing that orthodox thinking is a straight-jacket for the mind.

You have a strong conscience and can operate outside of your comfort zone to bring about win-win outcomes.
You are known for your integrity, someone who knows the difference between right and wrong, and is not afraid to advocate for what is right.

And you resist “group-think” and do what is right even when those around you do not.

Your conscience is your reliable guide, you don’t need others to tell you.

You are resilient; you bounce back from failure and set-backs knowing that it is not possible to succeed every time at everything you do.
Learning lessons from failure and trying again is the essence of resilience.

This is one of the defining characteristics of the successful technology entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley whose motto is “fail early and fail often” because how else will you discover what works?

In the coming age of intelligent machines, it is these very human qualities that will be more important than ever.

Some things will never change because human nature is what it is.
Acquire these skills and be ready for the future when it arrives.

Remember, the way to do this is to be proactive about seeing where the world is heading and taking action now to position ourselves to be ready when the future arrives.

References Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) 2015, Australia’s Future Workforce, available at http://adminpanel.ceda.com.au/FOLDERS/Service/Files/Documents/26792~Futur eworkforce_June2015.pdf , accessed November 2016.
Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26 Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, (2015) The National Innovation and Science Agenda, available at http://innovation.gov.au/page/agenda accessed December 2016.

The Regional Australia Institute (2016) The Future of Work: Setting Kids up for Success, available at http://www.regionalaustralia.org.au/home/wp- content/uploads/2016/11/The-Future-of-Work_report.pdf accessed November 2016.
The Future Laboratory (2016) , available at http://enterprise.blob.core.windows.net/whitepapers/futureproof_tomorrows_jobs.

pdf accessed November 2016.

Tuffley, D. (2012) Genius: The Habits of Highly Creative People, Altiora Publications, San Francisco.

Available at https://www.amazon.com/Genius- Habits-highly-creative-people/dp/1480160334 Author Biography Dr. David Tuffley is a Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics and SocioTechnical Studies at Griffith University’s School of ICT.
A regular contributor to mainstream media on the social impact of technology, David is a recognized expert in his field.

Before academia David worked as an IT Consultant in Australia and the United Kingdom.

David came to the tech world from the Humanities, having studied Psychology, Anthropology and English literature at the University of Queensland in the 1980's.

David is an accomplished professional speaker and forum moderator.
David's formal qualifications include PhD (Software Engineering), Master of Philosophy (Information Systems), Grad Cert in Higher Education (all from Griffith University), Bachelor of Arts majoring in Psychology, English Literature, Anthropology (University of Queensland).

Senate Select Committee on the Future of Work and WorkersSubmission 26