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  • As evidenced by drastic developments in AI... change is underway.

  • "A perfect storm of business model change in all industries, resulting in major disruptions

  • to labor markets." That is what's expected in the near future... according to the World

  • Economic Forum's report on the future of jobs. How so and what needs to be done to better

  • prepare ourselves for this rapid change? Our News Feature tonight... with Kwon Jang-ho.

  • "SIRI, remind me to pick up my dry cleaning after work today.

  • SIRI can be a useful tool, though it's not really ready to replace the role of a human

  • personal assistant yet. But that's where the technology is heading."

  • At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, Stuart Russell, a leading expert in

  • computer science, suggested that in the future, artificial intelligence would become the ideal

  • personal assistant, perform better than humans, and be available to all.

  • "We're talking about a system which is there on your shoulder and can provide advice, and

  • can help you navigate the complicated world."

  • But perhaps that future is already here. A study last year found that between 2001

  • and 2013, personal assistant jobs in the U.K. had fallen by 45-percent.

  • Other occupations such as library assistants and travel agents also saw huge declines.

  • The report concluded that the losses were mainly among jobs where productivity had been

  • greatly improved by technology.

  • "Jobs which are standardized, repetitive, and involve patterns, are jobs that will be

  • taken over by artificial intelligence and robots. For instance, in the U.S., 75-percent

  • of Wall Street trading is being made by computers. Even in journalism, sports and finance news

  • reports can be produced by AI autonomously."

  • Researchers at the University of Oxford in 2013 said that 47-percent of jobs in the U.S.

  • could potentially be done solely by machines within 10-20 years.

  • The study also said that any job that involves little social intelligence, creativity, and

  • perception is at risk. Further studies showed that Korea is at a

  • higher risk of losing jobs, as it has been estimated that 63-percent of the country's

  • workforce could be computerized.

  • "Our research found that it is a very risky situation, far more so than that in the U.S.

  • and other developed countries. The reason is because the ratio of Korean jobs that involve

  • simple manual skills or office administration work is higher than other places."

  • But the research paper offers hope in that new fields will open up, especially in IT

  • and software development. The social business networking site LinkedIn

  • put together a list of the top 10 job-titles that barely existed before 2008.

  • 8 out of 10 were from digital industries, with IOS and Android software developers coming

  • out on top.

  • Academics and business leaders agree that the changing nature of the job market in general

  • cannot be stopped and that the next task in hand is for society to adapt to such changes.

  • [14:50] "Those already working will need to go through

  • a re-education. Moreover, they need to study new fields in order to survive, and for that,

  • universities and the government need to provide related courses or financial support."

  • "I think re-training is the responsibility for the corporation. If we know the future,

  • and I think we are almost crystal clear that we know the future, that's what we're talking

  • about, then we have to start retraining the people. And also we have to work with the

  • government to really create the future talent to be more adaptive to the future trend."

  • "The fourth industrial revolution is coming. It should make life a little easier, better,

  • more productive. But for some of us, that might not happen if jobs and our livelihoods

  • become collateral damage. To prepare for it, more steps need to be taken by governments,

  • businesses and, of course, ourselves. Kwon Jang-Ho, Arirang News."

As evidenced by drastic developments in AI... change is underway.

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