The pace of AI acceleration is staggering. Just think about it this way: OpenAI’s ChatGPT wasn’t the first instance of AI by any means, but its public debut was less than two years ago. Two! Way back in the simpler times of late 2022. This simple yet powerful chatbot put a huge spotlight on AI and sent a shockwave through just about every business sector.
Articulating AI’s rise to ubiquity since then is difficult – if not futile. A QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey study found that 65% of respondents are regularly using generative AI (genAI) in 2024, a figure that nearly doubled in less than a year. “If 2023 was the year the world discovered genAI, 2024 is the year organizations truly began using – and delivering business value from – this new technology,” the report opens to say.
Amid all the hype, speculation, celebration and fear is the important conversation about how AI will impact the way we work, or the very nature of the work we can do. Will the doomsday scenario of AI replacing all human workers play out? Probably not to that extent, but I believe that some jobs will be replaced by AI, if not considerably impacted.
Because of that, the significance of AI’s impact on the way we work cannot be overstated. A separate report by the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium estimates that 92% of information and communication technology (ICT) jobs will be significantly transformed by AI, pointing to the acute need to continually evaluate the skills needed to be successful in a shifting and AI-influenced landscape.
Focus beyond technical jobs
A lot of the discourse and commentary on AI-impacted jobs can often center around technical roles like data science and software development – or the development of large language models (LLMs) or genAI tools themselves. Obviously roles that are inherently focused on tech will be impacted by AI over time. It’s a given.
However, the ICT report reveals an interesting trend and one that I’m happy is getting more attention: It’s that jobs in a “business and management” classification stand out in the report as having the highest potential for “transformation”. In other words, these jobs will require new skills because of the impact AI is creating. Roles like business analyst, digital marketing specialist, project manager or product manager are said to have 62.5% “high” transformation by AI and 37% “moderate” transformation respectively.
Plus, these types of jobs are “leading the pack in the share of job postings according to [an] analysis of Indeed data,” the report states. “AI has the potential to revolutionize these roles by enhancing operational efficiencies, facilitating strategic decision-making through data-driven insights, optimizing customer experiences, refining marketing strategies, and improving other functional aspects.”
AI is not just changing the way we work by requiring workers to understand a new technology or coding language; it’s delivering the opportunity for greater agility and better decision making in tech-adjacent professional sectors.
In other words, jobs in these fields are one-hundred-percent going to change because of AI. Probably for the better, but only with the right skills. And only for those who are committed to keeping up.
Upskilling in the AI era
We may not fully know the extent in which AI will impact our professional lives, but the time to emphasize upskilling is here – especially in the face of a widening skills gap. The World Economic Forum estimates that 50% of workers will need to be reskilled by 2025. In order to stay competitive and relevant, professionals in those “business and management” roles need to continually advance their skills in a rapidly evolving and tech-driven landscape.
And the good news is there are more opportunities than ever to seek out high-impact and skills-based certificates to proactively hone the skills that are aligned with these changing jobs. For example, my company, Ziplines Education partners with some of the top colleges and universities in the U.S. to provide high-impact and digital-first career training for many of the same roles as the ICT report identified as transforming.
The urgency of upskilling and reskilling is not just about staying relevant either. It’s about seizing opportunities for growth and advancement – driving economic mobility through career and earnings progression. Professionals who actively learn new skills and adapt to new technology are better positioned to capitalize on emerging job opportunities in the face of AI. By embracing the need to continually evolve our skills, today’s tech-adjacent workers can bridge a growing skills gap and unlock new career and job possibilities.
What will those jobs look like just two years from now? Thanks to AI’s rapid rise, that’s anyone’s guess. But upskilling continuously will ensure we’re prepared.
Sara Leoni is the founder and CEO of Ziplines Education
