Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work in Nigeria

A shift from educational requirements to skills possession

Abstract

The invention of artificial intelligence (AI) and its adoption in the workplace is not to substitute humans but to complement tasks with precision, efficiency and fewer costs. There was suspicion and apprehension when began to replace humans in tasks that are repetitive and requires little analytical skills in the early 1990s in developed countries and early 2000s in the developing nations. However, AI opened opportunities for workers and prospective workers to enhance their skillsets to survive or to secure a job in a rapidly changing world of technology. It has been established that it has disruptive effects on employment, it has created new jobs and transformed some. It has shifted what is required from a worker or job seeker from educational qualification to skill sets possession operate in a technological-driven work environment. It has found that innovations of machines and adoption in the workplace are not a replacement of human but complementary to ensure tasks are done with minimum error, less cost and within a short time. The article adopted unobtrusive research to examine the changes ushered by technological development. It analyzes the existing statistics of how the use of AI in the workplace had displaced some workers on one hand and created more jobs on the others. The paper established that in the era where AI is witnessing unprecedented scientific through frequently, jobs opportunities created by these developments requires technical skills more than the educational qualifications or both. Therefore, the future of work in the ever-changing and dynamic world of technological advancement would be skills-based. The AI skills now needed for survival for the employed and securing job for the job seekers.