‘AI is a wake-up call’
Biz Nation co-founder says educators must change teaching in preparation for future employment
Published:Monday | December 4, 2023 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Daniela Carvajalino, co-founder of the Colombia-based Biz Nation education company, is warning that the education sector must be willing to change how it prepares children for future employment, particularly at a time when artificial intelligence (AI) technological advancements are changing the global job market.
Carvajalino made the point during her keynote address at last Thursday’s launch of the two-day Tech Beach Retreat Jamaica’s sixth annual staging, held at the Iberostar Resort in Rose Hall, St James. The retreat lasted up to December 2 under this year’s theme, ‘Scaling Beyond Borders’, and was being hosted by the Development Bank of Jamaica.
‘Wake-up call’
“People in the education industry think that education is going to be ruined by AI, and that AI is the most terrible monster that could ever happen; but it is actually a wake-up call, because education has been needing to change. Things change, but education keeps remaining the very exact same way,” said Carvajalino.
“Fifty-six per cent of all the jobs will be changed and transformed by technology, so if you are in the labour market, this applies to you. We keep hearing that 97 million jobs will be removed or deleted because of AI; but then, how many more are going to be created? It is not only that AI will destroy jobs, but it will create a lot more jobs; but the current educational system is not preparing kids and future adults for these jobs,” Carvajalino added.
Linked to technology
Her warning falls in line with a prediction from the World Economic Forum that 65 per cent of all current primary school children will end up in careers that do not yet exist, with a high possibility of those careers being linked to technology.
That projection, which was originally published in the World Economic Forum’s January 2016 executive summary on the future of jobs, was shared Dr Taneisha Ingleton, the HEART/NSTA Trust’s managing director, at the Jamaica Technology and Digital Alliance’s BizTech 2023 conference last month.
Prior to that conference, Professor Sean Thorpe, the dean of the Faculty of Computing and Engineering at the University of Technology, advocated for the use of generative AI in April this year, pointing out that technology is geared towards improving workplace efficiency.
Carvajalino also told Thursday’s launch that the current education system’s method of teaching students to memorise facts and details does not adequately prepare them to develop the necessary skills for employment after they leave school.
“I still cannot understand why we keep making kids memorise things, and then when they react to real life, they are like, ‘Oh yeah, we’re not prepared.’ They do not have the four things that, up to now, kids, adults, and anybody hiring somebody needs: creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking,” said Carvajalino.
“Those are the four things that the schools do not prepare kids for, and those are the most important things that we as people need to develop. Seventy-five per cent of all jobs will be related to technology by the next five years, so it doesn’t matter if you work in this industry or not, this is something that you for sure need to have,” she added.