How Will AI Change The IT Career Landscape

A lot of attention has been given recently to how artificial intelligence (AI) and automation will impact employment in areas like manufacturing truck driving. However, AI is expected to impact almost every industry – including the industry that created it.

The tech industry has created and happily adopted AI, with at least 46 percent of tech organizations saying that include it in their work portfolios, according to a survey from Tata Consulting Services. This rate of use will only increase as AI technology develops, and one major result will be the evolution of many IT careers.

As the use of it grows, AI will increase productivity for the average IT professional, and new career possibilities will be created. For instance, there will be an increasing demand for professionals who can launch and maintain AI technology to boost productivity for various businesses, some of which may not even be in the tech industry per se.

Chatbots – a case study

One example of how AI is changing tech careers is the chatbot called IPSoft Amelia currently being used by the UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group.

Before Amelia, IHG had 35 people performing first- and second-tier tech support roles, assisting hotel and corporate staff takes care of back-end systems issues, along with basic hardware and software problems.

The staff had a hard time managing the 24/7 needs of the business and the demands of handling various IT problems. In 2016, IHG launched Amelia to have support discussions, respond to questions and carry out standard support tasks, all the while learning from various experiences.

IHG did not lay off staff as a result of this technology: It actually added 80 employees. Without Amelia, however, IHG would have had to hire 120 support agents meet demand, according to the company.

More opportunities

For IT professionals, AI technologies offer substantial opportunities, such as becoming expert at deploying AI technology for businesses and integrating it with other systems.

According to research by Gartner, greater than 10 percent of IT new hires in customer service this year will be for scripting for bot interactions, and by the end of the decade, 20 percent of businesses will commit employees to tracking and steering neural networks.

Some businesses will also reap the benefits of more in-depth AI applications, which could mandate significant upskilling for tech professionals.

According to a report from McKinsey, AI could help produce 20 to 50 million new jobs around the world.

Going with the flow of AI

Experts suggest that IT professionals seeking to guard against being made redundant by AI should expand their abilities to include business management or communication abilities. Developing deeper expertise is another way to support career security.

Tech professionals could also more into growth areas like cybersecurity, where there is expected to be around two million positions going unfilled in the next few years. AI is projected to be a big part of cybersecurity moving forward, because the technology can help systems more secure.

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