AI and the future of work

AI is reshaping roles, organisations, and industries. So, how can we, as workers and leaders, prepare for this new reality? Our experts have some recommendations.

Key actions for workers

Actively engage in technological change - when and where possible.

Stay informed about AI developments in your sector. This can be useful for identifying how you might like to upskill or reskill.

If you can, use AI tools to assist with your work. Get familiar with their capabilities and limitations.

Leavell suggests that you should see yourself as an agent of change. "The way the AI tools are right now, everything you do is being fed back into the model, so you are literally building it."

Stillwell encourages people to remember the popularised phrase, "doctors won't be replaced by AI, but doctors who use AI will replace those who don't."

AI tools will continue to become increasingly powerful, but they will still rely on human input and oversight.

Key actions for leaders

Allen believes that: "Leaders need to take a strong and clear governance approach that looks at AI's alignment with the organisational strategy, risk elements such as ethics and regulatory compliance, and technical elements such as data and systems."

Organisations should set up systems for employees to experiment with AI tools. "This must be done in an environment where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities rather than failures, which is crucial for innovation," Leavell explains.

"And organisations need to incentivise employees to share what worked, so the organisation can roll it out," Stillwell adds.

In sectors where workers may have less agency to experiment, leaders need to ensure that AI isn't being implemented in a top-down way that alienates the very people it's supposed to support.

For AI to be integrated effectively, and for organisations to be truly human-centric, workers need to be involved in how AI is used in their roles.

Leavell says: "There should be time spent on truly figuring out what employees want the technology to do, so that they can build the AI in a way that improves their work and their lives."

Drage adds: "It's important to integrate AI in a way that builds employee trust. Otherwise, you won't have the employee buy-in that you need."

The integration of AI in workplaces is a cultural change just as much as it is a technological change.

"Think about the way you frame the use of AI in your organisation: it should be seen as an enabler and an opportunity, not a threat," Allen suggests.

As Leavell summarises: "We need more people and more diversity in the room when talking about AI and the future of work. We need workers in the room, not just managers and developers."

"And we need to talk about it in a way that's radically different from the way it's usually discussed - because what people think is possible and probable for the futureshapes the decisions and actions we make today."