Editor’s note: This piece was written by Angela Chen, CEO of Eskwelabs, and was handled by BrandRap, the sales and marketing arm of Rappler. No member of the news and editorial team participated in the publishing of this piece.
It was a regular Monday morning when I found myself in a sea of anxious faces. As CEO of Eskwelabs, I was introducing our team to a new AI tool meant to streamline our workflows. Some were thrilled, but others stared back with palpable anxiety. It struck me that even in a tech-forward startup like ours, there was apprehension surrounding AI. A similar phenomenon unfolded on a much larger canvas recently, as revealed by a study conducted by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
In a sweeping survey across 18 countries involving 13,000 individuals, BCG uncovered an interesting dichotomy in the perception of AI in the workplace. According to the report, 62% of leaders displayed optimism towards AI, contrasted starkly with only 42% of frontline staff. These numbers resonated with the blend of excitement and unease I had witnessed firsthand in my team. The narrative was clear: perceptions around AI were deeply divided along hierarchical lines. Leaders are excited by its potential, managers are cautiously optimistic, while employees are concerned their jobs will be negatively impacted.
Interestingly, this asymmetry was not confined within the hierarchy but seeped into the area of familiarity with AI. Regular users of generative AI were noticeably more optimistic (62%) compared to non-users (36%). A powerful testament to the transformative power of exposure and hands-on experience in allaying AI apprehension and fueling optimism.
Simultaneously, the BCG report underscored a glaring disparity in the availability of training. Despite recognizing its need, the provision for AI training was woefully inadequate. Only 44% of leaders and a mere 14% of frontline staff had been fortunate enough to receive such training.
This perceptual chasm and the lack of adequate training underline the necessity of initiatives like the upcoming AI Summit hosted by the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP). As a member of the Board of Trustee, I’m looking forward to the summit on June 22-23, 2023, where discussions will center on the emerging applications of AI across industries. We’ll delve into how AI is redefining sectors from healthcare to education, finance to logistics, and beyond. Not only will this be a platform to demystify AI but also to explore the promising opportunities it offers across the board.
The AAP summit is about equipping ourselves with the knowledge and skill set to harness AI’s potential, irrespective of our coding proficiency. It’s about opening the door to the world of AI for everyone, from enthusiastic tech novices to seasoned industry veterans.
As we stand at the precipice of this AI era, our discussions must veer away from just the lines of code. Instead, they should celebrate our collective human ability to adapt, learn, and grow. After all, the essence of AI isn’t contained in its algorithms, but in our interactions with it. And the key to unlocking its potential lies not in machines, but in us. I also encourage other leaders to commit to not just exploring AI applications but to empathize with the anxiety of workers and focus not just on technical skills, but the human ability to adapt, learn, and grow. – Rappler.com
Angela Chen is Co-Founder and CEO of Eskwelabs, an edtech startup reimagining the vocational school, with the mission of democratizing access to the future of work for those from diverse backgrounds through data skills education.