A large-scale survey of how the nation is rapidly adapting to generative AI and the impact on jobs sees the tech as friend rather than foe, but indicates that the pace of adoption is highly variable across industries, with many workers sneaking onto ChatGPT and other tools well before their workplace has asked for it.
Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) Commissioner Barney Glover (who also wears an ATEC leadership hat in his spare time) launched the report on Australia’s AI transition on Friday.
Many of the findings will not come as a surprise: AI offers productivity opportunities, will reshape how we work and we need to get on board now with an approach to actively transition workplaces to using AI, rather than leave it to ad hoc experimentation by staff.
The report is significant, nonetheless, as it provides a cheat sheet to what JSA (and therefore the Government and probably the Education Department) are hearing, and also in that it provides “a whole-of-labour-market view of Gen AI and its potential impact, current impact, and medium-term implications for labour market and skills.”
The study reports that AI will tend to help workers rather than replace them although notes that AI automation may affect just over 20% of roles, with some lower skilled clerical and administrative roles despatched the way of the dinosaurs.
University empire builders may also be a little afraid of the findings, with the report sharing a quote that, “When a system has a bottleneck related to speed, scale, scope or sophistication, or when one of these factors poses a real barrier to being able to accomplish a goal, it makes sense to think about how AI could help.”
Timed nicely to coincide with both a profile in the AFR and Jim Chalmer’s productivity summit, the report essentially argues that we have to proactively choose a path to implementing AI now, despite limited evidence and information as to how it will pan out if we are to get some control over how it affects us and also unlock productivity.
This is a timely message for the sector – the Future Campus team created a framework for AI adoption in early 2024 that indicated training and proactive plans to adopt across all areas were required if the benefits and hazards of AI were to be managed, rather than simply adopt a compliance approach for learning and teaching based on TEQSA’s request for info.
The results of a lack of commitment to a whole of institution approach were glimpsed by a report released earlier this month showing very low (formal adoption) of AI usage outside learning and teaching, despite the potential to improve efficiency, reduce costs and improve the student experience substantially through proactive implementation of AI in professional areas. In addition, there has been limited progress in AI screening for research publications or positioning documents by institutions before they are submitted, with very different criteria in AI use and detection applied to the work of students compared to the work of academic or professional staff.
With implications for curriculum renewal and graduate employability, the JSA report finds that the new technology is accelerating skill change, “increasing demand for both digital literacy and higher-order human skills like critical thinking, communication, and adaptability, while also intensifying the pace of occupational skill evolution.”
Importantly, there is a significant equity risk emerging, the report said, “Women, older workers, First Nations Australians, and people with disability may face disproportionate risks due to occupational concentration and digital access gaps.”
The report suggests that the Australian Government should take charge of stewarding the AI transition through a “centralised, coordinated and independent whole-of-government capacity or institution.”
It also seeks to settle the debate on whether to embrace AI in the tertiary sector, recommending that, “Australian governments should prioritise efforts to embed contemporary data, digital and AI skills in the design and delivery of higher education and VET qualifications.”
Short-form training should also be a priority to get workers up to speed (microcredentials anyone?) and tertiary educators get a special mention, getting Government support to get up to speed with AI for teaching, learning and assessment, but also for industry practice in their field.