The emergence of more and more elaborate artificial intelligence-based tools is rekindling the threat of machines usurping human jobs. However, experts from IBM temper this fear in a new study, pointing out that AI and task automation will more likely favour 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, United States-based bank Goldman Sachs estimated that AI systems could replace 300 million jobs worldwide. That represents around a quarter of work activity globally.

IBM, however, is somewhat more optimistic in its new report “Augmented work for an automated, AI-driven world”. In the document, it explains that advances in technology will not so much lead to humans competing against machines, but rather to the creation of an “augmented workforce”, where “human-machine partnerships boost productivity and deliver exponential business value”.

Of course, the ideal incarnation of such a scenario is contingent on workers being sufficiently trained. While IBM experts maintain that human expertise will always be valued on the job market, they stress the need for the workforce to acquire additional skills to work effectively with artificial intelligence.

The 3,000 business leaders they interviewed for this study estimate that 40% of their workforce will need to develop new skills over the next three years to meet the new needs that will allow human and machine to complement each other.

Although all workers will be affected by this new division of labour between humans and robots, some jobs will be more likely to evolve than others in a context of task automation. Low-skilled jobs or those occupied by junior profiles are the most likely to be filled or modified by machines, owing to their routine nature.

Only 22% of business leaders surveyed by IBM believe that executive or senior management positions will be affected by the “robolution”.

But what are the skills that will enable individuals in the workforce to stand out in a job market touched by automation? Those linked to specifically human talents, i.e. soft skills.

IBM experts claim that good time management and the ability to prioritise tasks are among the most-sought professional qualities of the future, followed by working as part of a team and communication skills.

Surprisingly, mastery of STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – is no longer highly coveted professionally, whereas it was in 2016.