The place of Artificial Intelligence in the workplace 2030

Guest blog by Mandeep Kundi, Head of Talent Development (Global), BMJ

Artificial intelligence (AI) is big business. It is the future and its impact on businesses everywhere will be three-fold. Embracing a world of AI means being more dependent on cognitive technologies, or robots, to run all our systems, make faster business decisions, and to help us avoid mistakes and human error.

I recently delved into the depths of the work of the futurist Richard Watson to tighten up my presentation I was invited to deliver at the ‘Academic Publishing in Europe conference’ in Berlin. Up on stage, I gave senior publishers from many organisations including the likes of Wiley, Springer Nature and Oxford University Press, an idea of what BMJ could look like in 10 years’ time.   
We can expect a much greater globalisation of talent and many more flexible working spaces. We will be reliant on automated processes that use big data and predictive technology to make many decisions on how we operate. With these changes, questions around ethics will find their way to a position that is also on the rise – the chief ethics officer.

These new ways of working will free up much of our time, liberating us from a life filled with the mundane. It will give us more time to hone our creativity and inspire us to work across multiple roles, and build expertise in many facets of life.

One risk in this tech-driven world is that loneliness, jobless growth and continual virtual communication could replace many real social and professional interactions.

The impact of COVID-19 can be felt by everyone across our world, and this pandemic has exponentially increased the speed at which we were working towards 2030. All of my initial thoughts and research around what would be in 2030, seemed to have moved closer, and we now find ourselves working remotely and also listening to conversations of loneliness and the need to have interaction with our colleagues, friends and family - do we need a Chief Ethics Office now rather than in 2030?...I think so!

With this in mind, think of two or three things that you don’t want to change in the next decade. And equally, ask yourself what are you desperate to change but know it never will? I am sure the answer to these questions will be very different now in comparison to five months ago!


Author

Mandeep Kundi, Head of Learning & Talent
Development (Global), BMJ

Mandeep Kundi, Head of Learning & Talent Development (Global), BMJ

Mandeep is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and a member of the panel of judges for UK Employee Experience Awards. He is a Licensed Practitioner for SHL/Hogan/EQi2.0/Talent Q Psychometric tools with experience in providing life and career coaching to all levels of management, often using proven tools such as Insights™ Personal Discovery.