As artificial intelligence becomes both more useful and more widespread, workers everywhere are becoming anxious about how a new age of automation might affect their career prospects.
人工智能越来越有益处,并且广泛应用,世界各地的从业者开始担心,自动化的新时代会如何影响自己的职业前景。
A study by Pew Research found that in 10 advanced and emerging economies, most workers expect computers will do much of the work currently done by humans within 50 years. Workers are clearly anxious about the effects on the job market of artificial intelligence and automation.
皮尤研究中心的一项研究发现,在10个发达和新兴经济体国家中,大部分从业者预计,目前很多由人类完成的工作,将在50年内被计算机取代。从业者普遍对人工智能和自动化给就业市场带来的影响感到担忧。
Estimates about how much of the workforce could be automated vary from about 9% to 47%. The consultancy McKinsey estimates up to 800 million workers globally could be displaced by robotic automation by 2030. Some jobs will change dramatically, while others will disappear altogether.
关于多少岗位会被自动化取代,预计的情况各不相同,从9%到47%不等。麦肯锡咨询公司预计,到2030年,全球会有多达8亿的工作岗位被机器人代替。一些岗位会发生重大改变,而另一些职位将会彻底消失。
So if automation makes the job market a little like a game of musical chairs, is there a way to make sure youre still employed when the music stops? Can education help you robot-proof your career?
如果自动化让就业市场变得像一场抢椅子游戏,有没有办法能够确保音乐停止时,你的工作还在?教育能否防止自己被机器人取代?
Future-proofing your career is less about picking a safe job and more about constantly updating your skills throughout your career, according to Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun, who wrote Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
美国的东北大学校长、《防范机器人:人工智能时代的高等教育》的作者约瑟夫·奥恩介绍:要防止工作被机器人取代,就要在职业中不断更新自己的技能,而不是选择一份安稳的工作。
He says education needs to change dramatically if workers are to adapt to this new environment. His solution, which he calls humanics, has three basic pillars:
他說,从业者们要适应这种新环境,教育需要大改革。他给出了人类主导学说的解决方案,有三个基本方面——
Technical ability: understanding how machines function and how to interact with them. As both artificial intelligence and robotics become ever more capable, machines will step into roles once monopolized by humans. Some employees wont last, but others will find themselves working with machines, and probably being vastly more productive as a result. Workers with a grounding in coding and engineering principles will be better placed to thrive in this new kind of workplace.
提高技术能力:了解机器的运转原理,知道如何与机器互动。随着人工智能和机器人变得愈发强大,机器将进入人类所有的工作中。一些员工要被机器取代,另一些员工要与机器合作,并且效率会因此大大提升。有编程和工程原理基础技能的从业者更容易在这种新的工作环境中取得成功。
Data discipline: navigating the sea of information thats generated by these machines. Workers will need data literacy to read, analyze and use the almost bottomless troves of information that are increasingly guiding everything from major business decisions to stock picks to purchasing decisions.
掌握数据运用:运用这些机器生成的数据引领工作。从业者需要具备数据知识,才能看懂、分析和利用庞大的信息库。这些数据逐渐指导一切,不管是重大商业决策、投资股票,还是日常采购。
And the human discipline: which is what we humans can do that machines for the foreseeable future, cannot emulate. Aoun says this includes creativity, cultural agility, empathy and the ability to take information from one context and apply it to another. In educational terms, this means less emphasis on the classroom and a greater emphasis on experiential learning.
增强人类特有优势:只有人类能够做到,未来机器也无法模仿的事情。奥恩说,这也就是人类的创造力、文化上的灵活性和同理心,以及在一种情景下获取信息,并将其运用到另一情景中去的能力。就教育而言,课堂传授知识性的教育不再那么重要,更重要的是体验式学习。
The World Economic Forum suggests many white-collar jobs, like accounting, will be at risk from future automation, while the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says low-skilled jobs will be most vulnerable and therell still be a strong correlation between education and income. Either way, skills are becoming outdated faster than ever before.
世界经济论坛称,类似会计等很多白领工作,将在未来面临被自动化取代的风险,但经济合作与发展组织则认为,低技能工作更容易受到影响,并且教育与收入仍然会密切相关。无论如何,技能更新换代的速度在当今比以往任何时候都快。
“A generation ago, the half-life of a skill was about 26 years, and that was the model for a career. Today, its four and half years and dropping,” says Indranil Roy, the head of the Future of Work Center of Excellence, set up by global consultancy Deloitte.
跨国咨询公司德勤创立的未来工作卓越中心负责人印德尔纽·罗伊说:“上个年代,一项技能大概能持续26年,也是一项事业的循环模式。如今变成了4年半,并且还在不断缩短。”
Aoun says the rapid pace of change isnt necessarily a negative, but it does mean youll probably never outgrow homework. It also means universities will need to shift their focus towards lifelong education and training mid-career workers.
奥恩表示,变化速度快不一定是坏事,但这意味着你可能永远都要学习。同时,大学必须把重点转向终身教育和对职业中期员工的培训上。
Perhaps above all, Aoun says humans need to focus on skills that are harder for artificial intelligence to replicate. Specifically, that means taking knowledge from one context or discipline and applying it to another.
更重要的是,奥恩表示,人类必须把重点放在人工智能難以效仿的能力上。具体来说,就是获取一种情景或学科的知识,并将其应用到另一种情景中去的能力。
“We humans are creative, innovative, entrepreneurial. We are able to interact with other people, work with them, be empathetic. We are able to be culturally agile, work with people with different backgrounds,” He said.
“我们人类有创造能力、创新能力和创业精神。我们能够与他人互动、合作,有同理心。我们能够在文化上保持灵活性,能与全球不同背景的人合作。”他说。
Technology is constantly upending our expectations, with change the only certainty. Roy says he is “surprised every day” at the barriers machines are breaking.
科技不断颠覆我们的预期,变化是唯一可以确定的事。罗伊说,机器打破的障碍“每天都让他感到惊讶”。
So perhaps its not enough to help workers survive a musical chairs-style job market. Maybe they also need to survive in one where all the chairs are constantly moving.
所以说,只帮助人们在抢椅子游戏这样的就业市场中生存下来是不够的。人们可能还需要在一个所有椅子都在不断移动的就业市场中生存下来。
Word Study
career /k?'r??(r)/ n. 生涯;职业
What made you decide on a career as an editor?
prospect /'pr?spekt/ n. 前景;展望;设想
The prospect of becoming a father filled him with alarm.
vary /'ve?ri/ v. (根據情况)变化,变更,改变
The menu varies with the season.
thrive /θra?v/ v. 繁荣;蓬勃发展
emulate /'emjule?t/ v. (计算机程序等)仿真;模仿
upend /?p'end/ v. 翻倒;倒放;使颠倒
The bicycle lay upended in a ditch.