21ST CENTURY SKILLS SYMPOSIUMARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – THE PLACE OF ROBOTS

RYAN WILSON – MECHATRONIC ENGINEER

INTRODUCTION

MOORE’S LAW UP TO 2000

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MOORE’S LAW UP TO 2017

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PERIODS OF CHANGE

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RESULT OF PEOPLE BORN IN THE 21ST CENTURY

How you’ve been set up for the future

• Very adaptable technology

• Very dynamic

• Very idealistic (can also be dangerous)

Things you need to be careful about

• Very used to instant gratification

• The fast moving corporate world

THE FUTURE

• Moore’s Law is only good until

2020

• Physical limit of silicon chips

• Processing speed of each processor

was capped in 2004

• Moving into Artificial Intelligence

• Molectronics (DNA based

computers/processors)

Han – The Humanoid Robot

FUTURE – INSPIRED BY NATURE

FUTURE - HUMANOID ROBOTS

FUTURE - EXOSKELETON

FUTURE JOBS

• Automation replaces low-paying, repetitive labour with better quality of life

positions and a superior working environment.

• Automated system capably replaces human interaction while maximizing

benefits of human insight.

BIGGEST GROWTH AREAS

Top 8 Biggest Growth Areas

1. Data Analysts

2. IT and Mathematics Professionals

3. Architects and Engineers

4. Specialised Sales Professionals

5. Senior Managers

6. Product Designers

7. Human Resources Specialists

8. Regulatory Lawmakers and Government Relations Experts

Source: World Economic Forum

DATA ANALYSTS

The World Economic Forum (WEF) surveyed thousands of CEOs from around the globe and across various industries, and the

overwhelming majority agreed that data analysts were on the top of their ‘to hire’ list.

Why?

Because we humans currently generate a TONNE of data. In fact, an IDC study projects that by 2020, every human on the

planet will generate approximately 1.7 megabytes of new data every second of every day.

That’s a lot of data.

For companies, plenty of data means plenty of opportunities to mine this information for rich consumer insights.

And in order to do this, the WEF says they’ll need a team of data analysts to ‘make sense and derive insights from the torrent of

data generated by technological disruptions.’

Data analysts will be as important to the Information Age as the prospector was to the Gold Rush. After all, what’s the point in

having all of this data, if you can’t mine it for all its worth?

GOOGLE TIMELINE

GOOGLE TIMELINE

IT AND MATHEMATICS PROFESSIONALS

No surprises here. IT and Maths professionals will still be in red-hot demand heading into the future as they continue to form the backbone of

innovation and industry.

Programmers, software developers and information security analysts will be particularly important, as established industries and emerging niches

need these professionals to build the next generation of platforms, applications and technologies – and more importantly, to make sure they’re

secure.

Tech professionals are already a highly sought after pool of workers, and the wonderful knock-on effect of being so coveted by companies is

enjoying awesome work conditions and a nice pay cheque. It’s no wonder ICT dominated the list of happiest jobs last year, securing an impressive 7

out of the 10 top spots!

If you’re lucky enough to already work in this field, you’re probably wondering what sectors or specialisations will offer the most growth into the

future.

Tech mogul Bill Gates says that if he had his time again, he’d drop out of college in an instant for these three promising fields:

• Artificial Intelligence

• Energy

• Biotechnology

CYBER SECURITY

As of December 2016 there was a

shortage of more than 1 million

Cyber Security experts globally.

All people studying this field are

recruited before they can finish their

degree.

ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS

Over the next three years, the need for architects and engineers is set to skyrocket, with today’s demand for these highly-skilled professionals

already eclipsing supply.

Architects and engineers are the people that turn ideas into reality and do everything from powering planes and driving space exploration to

transforming entire cities and the way we live.

As we inch closer to major breakthroughs and take on the world’s most ‘wicked problems’ – large-scale, complex problems that are not ‘evil’ per se,

but are considered wicked because they’re notoriously difficult to solve – like the refugee crisis, climate change and dwindling resources, we’ll need

the ingenuity and might of architects and engineers to lean on.

According to the World Economic Forum report, the biggest growth specialisations are:

• Biochemicals

• Nanotechnology

• Robotics (mechatronics engineering)

• Materials

ENVISIONING THE FUTURE OF ROBOTICS

• Pre-Robots

• Manipulators (Began 1950)

• Robots with Sensorised Control (Began

1968)

• Industrial Robots (Began 1979)

• Intelligent Robots (Began 2000)

• Collaborative and Personal Robots (this

is where we are today)

COLLABORATIVE ROBOTS

These are robots that work with you. They are

a step change up from intelligent robots as

they will watch you working and won’t drive

through you. Using this robot is the same as

working on a task with another person.

SPECIALISED SALES PROFESSIONALS

By 2020, sales reps with technical chops will become increasingly important.

As companies of the future continue to create the most innovative and technologically complex

products we’ve ever seen, they’ll need a taskforce of specialised sales reps – particularly ones

who can handle technologically complex sales – to target new clients and drive growth.

As MONEY and Payscale’s joint report points out, sales professionals with strong technical skills

enjoy an average 4.3 per cent boost in their salary and ‘typically fatten their paycheque if they

can handle technologically complex products and services.’

Beyond being tech-savvy, sales reps will also need to have exceptional communication skills and

a high degree of emotional intelligence.

CATALOGUE SALES ARE OUT

Sales team need to be able to

understand the technical possibilities. We

are moving into a world where

everything is customisable, so the sales

professional needs to know what they

can and cannot offer. They also will

need to understand how to overcome

problems where there may not be a

product yet.

SENIOR MANAGERS

Over the next few years, the WEF says senior managers will continue to be highly coveted by companies, particularly in sectors that are ‘ripe for

disruption.’

According to analysts and forecasters, the sectors that are most likely to experience a major shakeup include:

• The energy sector

• Real estate

• Financial services (particularly mobile banking)

• Media and entertainment

So if you’re a manager on the cusp of transitioning into a senior exec simply looking for a new challenge, consider moving into one of the above

fields.

Just remember that if you want to be the type of executive companies will drool over, exceptional managerial skills simply aren’t enough anymore.

Moving into the future, companies will seek a ‘new type of senior manager who will successfully steer companies through the upcoming change and

disruption.’

DYNAMIC MANAGEMENT

It is important for future managers to be

able to adapt to change. They need to

challenge conventional thinking.

The answer to the question “why do we do

it this way” used to be “because that’s

how we’ve always done it”. In today’s

world, that is the wrong answer.

PRODUCT DESIGNERS

With repetitive and monotonous jobs becoming increasingly automated in the future, the WEF

says creative jobs will become more important than ever, particularly ones that require a human

touch.

It’s why designers will become increasingly important as we inch closer to 2020, with

commercial, product and industrial design jobs set to experience the most growth and demand.

With emerging fields like robotics and wearable technology and industries like the energy

sector poised for disruption, we’ll need product designers to design everything from driverless

cars and the future of transport through to new gadgets and manufactured goods.

DESIGNERS

Creative, out of the box thinking

is what employers are searching

for. Every company wants to have

that product that puts them on the

map. It is the product designers

that bring that to the market.

With new products hitting the

market constantly, good product

designers are in high demand.

HUMAN RESOURCES SPECIALISTS

Given the general disruption felt by industries across the board, and the fierce competition for talented programmers, architects and engineers, it’s

no wonder CEOs from around the globe told the WEF that one of their highest priorities is to find clever and efficient ways to secure a ‘solid talent

pipeline’.

That’s why HR specialists will be in such high demand over the next few years.

Roles within the ‘computer and mathematics’, and ‘architecture and engineering’ job families are already notoriously difficult to recruit for – and

with the WEF forecasting that these fields will create an additional 2 million jobs around the world by 2020, companies will be bending over

backwards to hire talented HR specialists to help reinvent HR as we know it.

And the future of HR is digital.

‘We see how digital has transformed media, retail transportation and education. Now it’s HR’s turn,’ writes Jeanne Meister, a partner at HR

advisory firm, Future Workplace. ‘The next journey for HR leaders will be to apply a consumer and digital lens to the HR function, creating an

employee experience that mirrors their best customer experience.’

But talent acquisition isn’t the only thing HR specialists will need to focus on.

According to the WEF report, 65% of CEOs and industry leaders said they were looking to heavily invest in reskilling their current employees. So

HR professionals with a strong background in developing training programmers will also be highly desirable.

SKILLS SHORTAGE

Technical skills are a massive asset and

experience helps your case further. The

skills shortage is so bad that recruitment

agents go to airports and ask people if

they want jobs when they walk off the

plane. Good HR is essential to keep a

companies skilled employees.

REGULATORY LAWMAKERS AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS EXPERTS

As our future becomes besieged with exciting (and terrifying) new technologies like driverless

cars, long-range drones and gene-editing tools, we’ll need regulatory lawmakers and policy

experts to navigate the legal and ethical conundrums that go hand in hand with new tech.

Let me give you an example that the car industry is already grappling with.

No matter how safe they may be, driverless cars still need to be programmed to respond in the

event of an accident. So, if there’s a crash, who should the car be programmed to save? The

driver? The pedestrians? Or the other drivers?

These ethically murky grey areas will need to be thoroughly explored by lawyers and

government regulators alike as they attempt to legislate and regulate our increasingly complex

future.

LAWS ARE OUTDATED

Technology moves too fast and

laws do not keep up. We have

driverless cars hitting the market

today and no laws that govern

them. Lawmakers of the future

need to be technically savvy as

well as very dynamic to the

changes as they happen.

CONCLUSION

The future is not something to be intimidated by. The world is changing faster

than it ever has. If you don’t know exactly what you want to do for a career, just

make sure that you are taking the hardest subject you can do. This will help

position you for a job that has maybe not even been invented yet.

QUESTIONS