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The majority of workers in the UAE and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states fear losing their jobs to robots, as companies are turning to machines to speed up production, a new research revealed.
According to a PwC survey, 75 percent of UAE professionals believe that a growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), automation and new technology will put them out of work in the next ten years.
The findings of the survey also stressed the need for educators, governments and businesses to promote and support upskilling opportunities among the workforce. The survey was conducted by PwC among more than 22,000 adults across 11 countries.
The threat of automation to jobs has been a concern, especially for unskilled or low-skilled employees. A study released last year by Oxford Economics showed that up to 20 million jobs in the manufacturing industry could be replaced by robots.
The economic consultancy firm pointed out that the number of robots in use worldwide has multiplied three-fold over the past two decades to 2.25 million, and trends suggest that the number would multiply even faster and reach 20 million by 2030. “Tens of millions of existing jobs will be lost, with human workers displaced by robots at an increasing rate,” Adrian Cooper, CEO and chief economist at Oxford Economics, said in the report.
According to Boyd Ebsworthy, founder of app developer Apsel Studio, automation is here to stay, and as computers are getting smarter, better robots are being created, many tasks that are still reserved to humans will eventually be displaced.
“For example, where you would have needed an army of data clerks, an AI can scan and process documents a thousand times faster,” Ebsworthy told Zawya.
“If part of your job consists of curating and analysing information, there’s a strong possibility that a part of it might get automated,” he added.
Women more concerned
In PwC’s study, women appear to be the most concerned about the rise of automation, with 63 percent of them saying that new technology will make their jobs redundant, compared to 36 percent of men.
However, at least half of the respondents believe that automation presents more opportunities than risks. The majority of those polled (86 percent) said they believe that automation will improve their job prospects and enable them to achieve digital proficiency or become an expert.
“Our jobs are changing, and fast. Many roles are disappearing altogether, with new, more meaningful roles taking their place. Our survey found that workers know that change is coming, they understand the need to upskill, and they are excited about the impact technology will have on their careers,” said Hani Ashkar, Middle East senior partner at PwC.
Opportunity, not threat
According to the “Future of Work” report by Michael Page, automation should not be considered a threat, but an opportunity for employees to do better at their jobs.
“While there is no doubt that some job roles will become obsolete as technology evolves, the likes of AI, automation and robotics are not here to take over. They’re actually enhancing what we do and how we do it,” the report said.
The recruitment specialist said these robots could be better described as “human-deployed tools” that help workers be more agile, responsive and more ambitious. “In other words, the future of work will be populated by technology that is deployed and implemented by humans,” the report said.
Since 2016, the UAE government has rolled out several strategies as part of the ongoing efforts to digitise the country and become more efficient in delivering services.
Through the initiatives, the country is expected to save $3 billion in transactions, cut down work time by 77 million hours annually and do away with printing 398 million documents.
In the Smart Dubai strategy, which seeks to transform Dubai into a “smart city,” among the projects launched so far were the robotic cleaners for the Dubai Metro stations, a robot-operated vehicle registration plate maker and the “robot Hamad,” which provides many services, including receiving ID renewal applications and identifying ID card status at the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship.
(Reporting by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
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