TORONTO, July 23, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CourseCompare, Canada’s marketplace for education, recently surveyed CTOs and CIOs at 113 publicly traded companies to identify the impact of AI investments on hiring trends over the next 24 months. Thirty-five percent of IT leaders surveyed predicted net job losses at their firms by 2021 (24 percent expected net job gains and 30 percent expected neither gains nor losses due to automation). Nearly 40 percent of technology executives reported existing roles will be redefined as workers take on new configurations of tasks and adapt to changing business processes.
CTOs and CIOs surveyed from among Canada’s 1,000 largest publicly traded companies suggested AI and machine learning will impact virtually every aspect of their businesses. In addition to workforce composition and changes to existing roles and job descriptions, executives predicted AI will lead to changes in revenue models (36 percent), reporting structures (33 percent), corporate learning policies (32 percent), recruitment strategy (31 percent) and management team composition (26 percent). Sixteen percent did not expect AI to impact their companies in a significant way.
Job Redesign vs. Job Automation
IT leaders most strongly agreed that full job automation may be less of a short-term challenge than task automation and the need to “redesign” or “reengineer” existing roles. They said security surveillance (40 percent), fraud detection (39 percent), smart personal assistants (36 percent), chatbots (33 percent) and language recognition (29 percent) are already being used to automate routine tasks and business processes at their firms. Instead of necessarily eliminating jobs, these technologies are leading employers to reorganize the bundle of tasks that constitute different job descriptions, and to reconsider how to structure their organizations and teams.
“You don’t need to write code to consider AI part of your job description,” said Robert Furtado, CourseCompare founder & CEO. “AI in the workplace means more agile team-based work, critical thinking and problem solving, and individual flexibility in terms of tasks performed on the job--regardless of whether you’re a software developer or customer service representative.”
Yet 10 percent of survey respondents reported employees may be unaware that AI has already been adopted by their company. Thirty-eight percent added employees do not have enough information about AI projects to form a clear opinion about their immediate impact within the workplace.
“Companies need to make AI literacy a priority for all employees, not just their data science teams,” said Furtado.
The McKinsey Global Institute estimates half of today’s work activities could be automated by 2055, but that less than 5 percent of paid jobs can be fully automated using existing technologies.
Education, Skills & Training
CTOs and CIOs agreed the automation of routine tasks will put non-technical skills, like social and emotional skills, as well as higher cognitive skills, in greater demand. Non-technical skills most frequently identified as in-demand by tech executives included critical thinking and problem solving (71 percent), creativity (68 percent), communication (61 percent), adaptability and continuous learning (49 percent) and team leadership (32 percent).
In terms of technical skills required to work directly on AI projects, executives reported a preference for candidates with training in advanced IT and programming, data science, data analytics, BI (Business Intelligence) and robotics. But CTOs and CIOs were far from unanimous on specific tools or programming languages required to succeed on the job. Python programming, Java, C++, SQL, Tableau, Hadoop, and Spark were among the software tools and programming languages most frequently mentioned by respondents.
Educational requirements and specific credentials for AI jobs varied widely, but nearly 71 percent of CTOs mentioned mathematics, computer science, or engineering as important foundations for success. Technical leaders further emphasized training in logic and algorithms, probability and statistics, and enough project experience to present an AI project prototype during a job interview as factors in their hiring decisions. The leading non-technical skills and attributes mentioned for machine learning hires were problem solving and innate curiosity.
CourseCompare surveyed CTOs and CIOs at 113 of Canada’s 1,000 largest firms on the TSX, including companies in banking, technology, manufacturing, healthcare, retail, and energy and mining industries. To participate in the survey, executives needed to have at least one active and ongoing AI project within their firm.
Read the full report: Canada’s AI Learning Curve: CTOs and CIOs on the Future of Work at Canada’s 1,000 Largest Firms. Readers can also explore top-rated machine learning courses, data science courses and coding courses provided by leading colleges, coding bootcamps and universities across Canada.
About CourseCompare
CourseCompare is Canada’s marketplace for education. We help prepare people for the future of work by connecting them to top-rated courses and training programs in business, technology and design across the country. Visit CourseCompare to find top-rated schools and courses near you, to browse verified student ratings and reviews, and to accelerate your career with advice from Canadian and international thought leaders.