Soft skills in the spotlight for workers as AI creeps into industries

Workers need to acquire new skills to work effectively with AI. — AFP Relaxnews

The emergence of more and more elaborate artificial intelligence-based tools is rekindling the threat of machines usurping human jobs. IBM experts temper this fear in a new study, pointing out that AI and task automation will more likely favor the acquisition of new skills than the disappearance of certain professions.

In recent months, studies and projections about how AI will affect the world of work have been coming thick and fast... and drawing more or less alarmist conclusions. In a report published in March, US-based bank Goldman Sachs estimated that AI systems could replace 300 million jobs worldwide. That represents around a quarter of work activity globally.