Things will change, but AI no big threat to IT

The emergence of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) should not be seen as a direct threat to information technology (IT) professionals, but rather as an opportunity to upskill and master the new technology.

This is according to Admire Gwanzura, president of the Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa (ITPSA).

“In just a matter of months large language and natural language processing AI has gone from hype to free app, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT topping a million users in just seven days – faster than any other application or platform [yet] released. We all knew it was coming, but the pace of change has been staggering – even for the IT sector.”

‘Things will change’

While the technology is proving to be hugely resource intensive and is not yet mature, it is already highly capable and progressing fast, he says.

“What this means for the jobs of the future is that things will change.

“PWC [PricewaterhouseCoopers] expects AI to create more jobs than it eliminates, but it should be noted that many people are not yet equipped to fill the new roles that will emerge. The skills we have today may become obsolete in a matter of just a few years.

“Goldman Sachs expects AI to replace the equivalent of 300 million jobs but, at the same time, it could eventually increase the total annual value of goods and services produced globally by seven percent.

“In SA, where skills are in short supply and labour costs are high, we expect to see employers harnessing AI to carry out everything from the mundane tasks to highly specialised ones.”

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Last year’s JCSE-ITPSA ICT skills survey (Joburg Centre for Software Engineering-Institute of Information Technology Professionals South Africa information and communication technology skills survey) revealed that employers were struggling to find appropriate skills and the number of employers recruiting specialised IT skills abroad had risen to 50% from 38% the year before.

The survey found there was demand for deep skills in coding, development, project management, business analytics and data science.

Gwanzura says: “AI can fill or supplement many of these roles and may become the de facto workers if employers continue to experience a skills gap.”

Humans still posses creativity

Barry Dwolatzky, emeritus professor and director of innovation strategy at Wits University and a co-author of the JCSE-ITPSA skills survey, said there was still a role for human IT professionals.

Speaking at a recent ITPSA Careers in IT webinar, he recommended a foundation of a broad computer science degree and continual upskilling to adapt to change in the sector.

“I’m sad to say that before long, AI systems will soon be writing code better than humans can, but we will still need humans to innovate and transform business processes. People should prepare themselves for where they can contribute to innovation.”

Gwanzura says: “AI may change the landscape dramatically in the next few years, but humans still possess reasoning, creativity and problem-solving skills that AI doesn’t yet have.”

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