Navigating Machines and Race: Shaping Cognitive Diversity and Innovation
We are at the threshold of a new era where diversity, equity, and inclusion will leap beyond biology into an interaction with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics.We are at a stage where robots mimic human motions, AI voices converse and learn, and technology pushes the boundaries of our understanding.We are witnessing the breakthroughs of innovation advances: quantum computing redefines reality, genetic engineering rewrites the code of life, and self-driving cars reimagine mobility.But it is the cognitive diversity introduced by AI and robotics that truly compels us to redefine our concept of “different.”
Today the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) and economic growth is the headlines of news, and social media all over the world. As the Vice President for Diversity and Inclusive Growth at Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, I’m keenly aware of the challenges facing historically marginalized small businesses in our city. Our organization is committed to ensuring that all businesses can be productive and profitable. That’s why I’m excited about the potential for AI to stimulate economic growth by helping businesses thrive.
In the 20th century, corporations and state enterprises perfected a “free trade” sleight of hand for extracting resources and cheap labor globally. Today, as sources of “cheap labor” become less profitable, artificial intelligence (AI) is wielded as a tool for further exploiting American labor.
When automated manufacturing first showed up in the 60s, the “pundits” (then called eggheads) worried about automation shortening the workweek. They argued that the increase in leisure would destroy the American work ethic. Today, automation’s potential for delivering the paradise of a 20-hour workweek has been largely forgotten, even though productivity per worker has rocketed off the charts. Today most people feel over-worked, and leisurely lifestyles remain the province of the rich.
Technological revolutions always transform the workplace, especially the job skills and talents required to perform.
By 2025, about 40% of today’s skills will at least change, if not be made obsolete and replaced by new skills. On average, in some 60% of jobs, at least a 30% of their activities can be automated.
Hence, most jobs will change or be replaced, and more people will need to work alongside technology. Digital technology also changes how and where work takes place.
