AI and the Workforce of the Future
Exciting new technology poses many challenges and many advantages. The key for students is to be prepared.
On November 19, 2024, a distinguished group of global leaders and technology innovators offered insights on the role of AI in the workforce of the future—in fact, not just where it's headed, but how it’s already transforming industries worldwide. The entire event focused on what CSUN students and faculty must do to prepare for workplaces that will be dominated by these powerful technologies.
Chandra Subramaniam, Dean of the Nazarian College of Business and Economics—which hosted the symposium—emphasized in his welcoming speech that the College has been building capabilities over the past few years to take advantage of this moment to make sure that students can get an early introduction to AI tools and their applications.
Keynote speaker Jesús Mantas of IBM laid it down with elegant simplicity: “We have a very powerful technology that is likely to change society. AI is a superpower and I hope all of us learn how to use it for good.” Mantas was on a panel of executive leaders well versed in the risks and benefits of AI tech.
Robert Sheridan, Executive Director of Career Education and Professional Development at the Nazarian College moderated the panel, and summarized the purpose of the event: “Jesús gave us an overview of where AI is going and how it is transforming every business and every organization in the world … AI and other cognitive technologies are going to destroy large categories of jobs. There will still be work to do. What does that work look like? What do our students need to do to be ready for it and what do our faculty have to do to prepare them?”
Panelist Cameron Kinloch, CFO of Weights & Biases,' advised students to “test out all the AI tools you can possibly get your hands on …” Stephen Cheung, president of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation addressed one of the risks of AI directly: “If you’re in school to learn, and you’re using ChatGPT to deliver everything, you’re not learning anything. Use it, but don’t rely on it.” And Global Head of Academies and Universities Alliances for SAP Karina Montilla Edmonds stressed that students “really need to practice those critical thinking skills, stay curious and continue to learn.”
One of the many challenges of AI today, according to Sheridan, who joined the Nazarian after a 35-year executive career, is that “We don’t know what we don’t know about where these technologies are going. Since regulation always lags technology, we’re in for some uncertainty and some bumpy times. You can’t write legislation to control risks that no one understands.”
Sheridan is still enthusiastic about both the current and the future applications of AI. “At CSUN, we’re still in the early stages of what can be done, with big opportunities to take to the next level. We had been discussing an effort to run programs that might create an ‘AI Workforce of the Olympics.’ That was before the fires. We’re rebranding and refocusing, with an eye toward an ‘AI Workforce of the Recovery.’ The massive and urgent effort to rebuild the affected communities will touch every subject our students study at CSUN. AI can enable all of them to deliver vital services effectively and efficiently. We can help create a workforce for good jobs doing good things, in and for our community.”
Mantas also provided an optimistic takeaway: “I think the most successful people in the future are those who can use the right brain and the left brain. And that means bringing art and technology, creativity and discipline, all at the same time, because that’s what AI is not going to be great at. Let AI do the artificial stuff and then invest in human intelligence.”