The rise of AI is shaking up the world of work and study

The rise of artificial intelligence will transformoptions at work

Artificial intelligence will transform teaching, making lessons more interactive and interesting for students.

Cyborg psychologist. De-extinction geneticist. Cyber spy. AI ethicist. Space tourism operator. Cool new careers for women have jumped from the realm of science fiction and into reality, as technology takes a quantum leap.

The rise of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) that can program computers, write essays and paint works of art is shaking up the world of work and study. Breakthroughs in science and technology – from mapping DNA to mining data and exploring space – are changing the nature of jobs once deemed dull, dirty or dangerous to create cutting-edge careers for women.

Blurring the demarcation between medicine, engineering and information technology (IT), many of these “jobs of the future’’ will require dual degrees or short “micro-credentials’’ to upskill. The so-called STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and maths will be more important than ever in career longevity.

The back-breaking work of carpentry and bricklaying will turn high-tech as builders turn to 3D printers to build homes. The hard yakka of mining is now carried out by workers in airconditioned offices, directing remote-controlled machinery long-distance.

Artificial intelligence will transform teaching, making lessons more interactive and interesting for students while helping teachers target weak spots in learning.

In the military, boots-on-the-ground combat troops will be augmented by cyber soldiers, piloting armed drones or guarding infrastructure from online attacks.

The transformation of traditional industries is creating more opportunities for women who often perceive technology as “geeky”.

Engineers Australia chief engineer Jane MacMaster is concerned too few girls are studying STEM at school, let alone at university. Women make up just 18 per cent of domestic university engineering students, and only 1362 Australian women graduated with an engineering degree in 2021, compared to 6262 men.

“Technology can be seen as boring or scary or too difficult,’’ Ms MacMaster says. “We want to really inspire girls to see how technology is exciting and rewarding. It’s an incredibly fulfilling career – engineering is about problem solving and creative design, and making the world a better place. It’s a very mobile career and you can work just about anywhere in the world.’’

Ms MacMaster says some emerging job titles are chief technology ethicist, ensuring AI is in line with human ethics; bionic doctor, repairing damaged robotic prosthetics; and humanitarian engineer, building sanitation and communications infrastructure in poor countries.

Researchers from Deakin and Griffith universities have predicted 100 “jobs of the future’’ to inspire women’s study choices. Some meld medicine with engineering, such as bioprinting engineers who 3D-print body tissue for human implants, and digital implant designers who create “body hacks’’ to implant into bodies and brains to overcome disabilities.

Ethical hackers, known as “white hats’’, are already employed by companies to find weaknesses in cybersecurity systems. Robot ethicists will increasingly be hired to ensure robots are safe and “peaceful’’.

The 100 Jobs of the Future report also envisages “cyborg psychologists’’, who will work with people who have synthetic organs, robotic limbs and body implants. “Digital memorialists and archivists’’ will work with people to curate their lives online, then decide which data to erase or store once a person dies. And “nostalgists” will recreate virtual worlds and memories for the elderly, especially those with dementia.

At the Australian Cobotics Centre, researcher Dr Penelope Williams is working on collaborative robots that can work alongside humans, taking over some of the more dangerous or mundane tasks.

Dr Williams, a research fellow in the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) School of Management, sees new opportunities for women working with AI and robots.

“These types of technologies will be relevant for jobs in health and care work, but will also have the potential to create more opportunities for women in industries that have been traditionally male dominated, such as manufacturing and construction,’’ she says.

“Women should consider courses that, in addition to giving them a trade or professional qualification, will help them develop digital skills, including basic coding. (They’ll also require) entrepreneurial thinking, strong communication and problem-solving skills, and the ability to collaborate with both humans and machines.’’

The Australian Industry Group’s latest skills survey shows 71 per cent of businesses are having trouble finding enough technicians and trade workers. Employers prize digital skills for tasks ranging from cyber security to data analytics and AI-interface. The construction and manufacturing sectors reported the greatest need for technical skills to transition to a “clean economy’’.

Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson says university degrees are a prerequisite for many of the jobs in the IT, health and STEM fields. “More than half of the one-million jobs expected to be created in the next five years will require a university degree,’’ she says.

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering is concerned only 29 per cent of women with STEM qualifications go on to work in STEM occupations such as IT or engineering.

“Jobs of the future are being created right now,’’ the academy’s director Elanor Huntington says. In Australia’s current workforce, 87 per cent of jobs now require digital skills. Recent advances in technologies such as AI have shown how important tech skills are in areas other than the tech sector.

Professor Huntington wants to see more women involved in developing technology, including AI. “Diverse perspectives shaping AI and associated technologies ensure that programs and applications of the tech minimise bias, are inclusive and offer the best economic, social, and cultural benefits for humanity,’’ she says.

Head of UNSW’s School of Information Systems and Technology Management, Barney Tan, says AI “does make certain domains of technology more accessible for women’’.

“There’s a realisation that even some of the more sophisticated technological developments over the last two or three years need people to serve as a bridge to link the business and technological side of things,’’ he says.

“We’re training our students to be intermediaries between the business and the technical sides, to craft the solutions needed to support the business.’’

Sharon Parker, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow from Curtin University’s Future of Work Institute, says technology should bring more flexible work and greater job security for women working in education, health and aged care.

“Most of these care-oriented jobs are less likely to be replaced by technology. Women are highly adaptive and possess to a greater extent than men skills such as empathy and perspective taking. These are ‘human’ skills that AI can mimic but cannot replace,’’ she says.

Steven Armitage, the Australian director of cybersecurity provider The SANS Institute, prefers to redefine these so-called “soft skills’’ as “power skills’’. “Effective communication is crucial,’’ he says. “Even well before AI, power skills were needed to develop strong relationships between teams within an organisation.’’

Juliet Bourke of the University of NSW Business School of Management and Governance, agrees human skills will be prized as AI takes over more technical tasks.

“When automation and AI take away low-level cognitive and physical jobs, what’s left is human interaction,’’ she says. “The very human jobs that involve social skills like empathy, collaboration and communication are on the rise. Women traditionally have invested a lot in those kinds of skills, as opposed to just technical skills.

“It may be that women’s time has come.”