Innovation is the fuel of the future, with new artificial intelligence (AI) tools set to increase productivity, save time, and allow us to come up with new ways to save the planet.
By Kathy Gibson
At its recent AI Skills Day, Colin Erasmus, chief operating officer at Microsoft South Africa, quoted Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella: “Ours is not an industry that respects tradition; it only respects innovation.”
Earlier this year, Microsoft committed to bring AI skills to 1-million South Africans by 2026; and certification to an additional 50 000. It has also partnered with the Youth Employment Service (YES) to train 300 000 young people, ensuring structured AI education and career pathways.
Microsoft South Africa has committed R1,3-billion to spur job creation, equipping 200 SMMEs and over 2 000 individuals with advanced AI and digital capabilities.
“We aim to give people the skills to enable them to be employed,” Erasmus says.
McKinsey predicts that, by 2030, the AI industry will be worth $1,3-trillion for the African continent. “We see that 78% of business leaders are hiring for AI roles,” Erasmus says.
Tiara Pathon, AI skills director at Microsoft South Africa, says the company aims to solve the three major challenges preventing broad-based AI adoption: turning AI anxiety into curiosity; ensuring everyone has access to the world of AI; and providing the skills and tools to help them get there.
“People are adopting AI, but they need help adapting,” Pathon says. “Today, 75% of knowledge workers use AI at work. Ninety percent of them are saving time; 85% can focus on important work; and 83% enjoy their work more.”
But AI anxiety persists, with 45% of professional concerned that AI will replace their jobs and 52% reluctant to start AI projects.
But, while companies hesitate to implement AI, 76% of professionals aren’t waiting for official guidance or training – they are building skills independently. This is because 76% say AI skills are needed to be competitive; 69% say AI can help them get promoted; and 79% say AI skills will broaden their job opportunities.
Matlole Mampshika, chief director: citizen empowerment and capacity development at the Department of Digital Communication and Technologies, points out that there is a mismatch of skills supply and demand in the technology space.
While unemployment – and especially youth unemployment – has risen over the last few years, vacancies for AI jobs has grown by 182% since 2020.
“At the same time, job seekers with AI skills have increased by only 61%.”
AI offers many benefits. It has the potential to reduce human errors, save time, assist in making unbiased decisions, develop individual learning tools that can help student progress better, develop a proper assessment for kids with special needs, and content creation
But there are some downsides too: it lacks human creative and emotional intelligence and could encourage human laziness. There are concerns that it could displace jobs; that privacy and security might be compromised; or that it could be misused for deepfakes and misinformation.
“But AI is here, and it is here to stay,” Mampshika says. “And there are many jobs available.”
Ravi Naidoo, CEO of Youth Employment Service (YES), points out that the world of work is changing – and jobs tomorrow will not be like the jobs of today.
“There are a lot of changes and its important that we are on the cutting edge of that,” he says. “One way to future-proof a country and prepare for what’s to come is to engage with young people.”
YES, the biggest youth employment programme in the world, is a public-private partnership (PPP) that helps talented young people get a first quality-work experience.
“Work experience makes a young person seven-times more likely to transition into sustainable, formal employment,” Naidoo explains.
Companies benefit by increasing their Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) status, while young people benefit from work experience.
YES helps to place between 3 000 and 4 000 people every month. Since 2019, it has helped to create 188 950 jobs with the aid of 1 848 corporate funders. A total of R10,95-billion has been paid in youth salaries, with 74% of YES interns coming from grant-recipient households.
The value of the programme is not just in placing young people in work, Naidoo adds, with 17% of YES graduates going on to form their own companies.
“Employers are looking for people that can work with technology,” he says. “Generative AI (GenAI) is set to transform the labour market in an unpredictable manner.”
Indeed, 86% of employers see AI as transformative.
“But 60% of companies in the global south identify the skills gap as a critical barrier to digital transformation.”
To land a job in this environment, Naidoo says job-seekers need to be able to work with data, or work with the technologies that use data.