Against the uncertainty often associated with artificial intelligence (AI), the second iteration of Global Lifelong Learning Summit (GLLS), jointly organised by IAL and SkillsFuture Singapore, bucked the trend with the theme “Human flourishing in an age of AI: Lifelong learning perspectives.”
The rationale for optimism was summed up by guest-of-honour Minister for Education Mr Chan Chun Sing in his opening speech at the summit, “This word ‘flourishing’ was chosen carefully, because it means that we need to try, that we want to go past the doom and gloom that some people associate with AI … it’s always important for us to remember that there are always opportunities for us to create new value propositions in this fast-changing world. The focus of this summit is to go beyond AI itself, to explore AI’s intersection with lifelong learning and human capital. How do we think about harnessing AI for work and for learning?”
To answer this question, IAL and SkillsFuture Singapore convened a gathering of heavyweights in adult learning and people development—global thought leaders, industry experts, policy makers, and researchers— to share perspectives, and present findings and case studies. Panel discussions, helmed by experts from the International Labour Organization (ILO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and enterprises such as Bain & Company, Microsoft, IBM, and D2L, tackled topics from changing skills demands and digital divides to industry insights and pedagogies in the age of AI.
Grounds for optimism
Experts at GLLS 2024 opined that some job loss can be expected as part of the impact wrought by AI. However, findings from four years of data collection by OECD also show that AI provides opportunities for new types of jobs, and for jobs to be done better.
One noteworthy finding from OECD is that the employment rate across most OECD countries in recent years is at a record high despite the advent of new technologies. Aside from barriers to technology adoption such as ethical concerns, OECD sees that AI is starting to create jobs both directly—where workers are needed to develop and maintain AI applications—and indirectly—where AI is used at work to improve productivity and support business growth. Even more interestingly, while many experts have been warning that AI’s largest impact is on high-skill occupations, OECD has been observing a growth in postings for high-skilled workers instead.
“AI technologies make us better at our jobs. Think about, for example, AI technologies that radiologists use. It will make them better at identifying disease. It will make them faster at doing that. It makes them more productive,” Mr Stijn Broecke, Senior Economist at the global policy forum OECD, explained, emphasising the productivity effect of AI.
At the same time, data shows that skills in demand are clearly evolving as AI adoption increases. For example, there is a decline in demand for skills especially in support functions such as administration, project management and budgeting. What this means is that understanding changing skills demands, identifying relevant skills in the changing workplace, and retraining workers are crucial next steps forward.
For humans to be optimistic and flourish as AI permeates work and daily life requires guidance in the development of AI adoption. This was highlighted by Mr Chan Chun Sing, given the inevitability of AI proliferation: Individuals will need to embrace AI and master its application, industries must adopt the new technology and invest in developing their workers, educational institutions must support the national scaling of digital upskilling, and finally, the government will need to provide thought leadership to guide and support the effective, innovative, and ethical adoption of AI across all sectors.
Man with machine, machine for man
The “man versus machine” rhetoric suggests deep-seated unease humans have with technology. But Mr Tan Kok Yam, Chief Executive, SkillsFuture Singapore, challenged attendees to envision an AI-driven future shaped by “man with machine” and “machine for man” instead. “How do humans work well with AI, to raise productivity, quality and living standards?” asked Mr Tan. “How do the machines that learn help us learn better too?”
These questions have been in part answered: industry representatives at the Summit reported observing ground-up adoption of AI, where workers on their own initiative use publicly available AI tools to execute their work. At professional services multinational company, KPMG United Kingdom, the audit team took it several steps further by sending the entire team for AI training.
Head of Audit Quality Ms Emily Jefferis from KPMG United Kingdom detailed how AI-training allowed her team to utilise AI effectively in their work while adoption of AI and machine learning enabled auditors to be freed of manual tasks to instead focus on using their skills to carry out high-level investigations. Machine learning has also replaced statistical sampling to parse huge volumes of transactions and highlight anomalies. Furthermore, KPMG UK also used AI to coach the team on their reports, resulting in higher quality work. Importantly, the training in AI equips auditors with knowledge to approach cases where clients have used AI in their processes.
A human-centric AI
For humans to flourish with AI, AI must be human-centric, a “machine for man”. This means that the way AI is developed and adopted must support and enhance our work and lives. One central element of this is that we must be able to trust AI technologies: that they would provide us with reliable knowledge and processes to carry out assigned tasks.
This topic is right up the alley of thought leader on AI, Professor Fredrik Heintz of the Linköping University in Sweden. Known for his work on trustworthiness of AI, Professor Heintz proposed three key components of a trustworthy AI—that it must be lawful, ethical, and robust. For example, an ethical AI would be based on principles of respecting human autonomy, prevention of harm, fairness, and explicability, i.e. transparency and openness. With trustworthy AI, the world could then develop strategies to build human-machine teams which empower us.
Learning sciences and AI technologies can also be successfully leveraged to enhance learning, skills development, and even micro credentialling. For example, Canadian EdTech company D2L has been incorporating AI technologies including predictive learning models and video transcription into their products, such as applications to help educators create course content, assignments, and quizzes.
As co-organiser of the summit, IAL recognises the urgent need for new approaches to frame the debates surrounding AI, and to shape a future where AI is a constructive rather than destructive force. Associate Professor (Practice) Yeo Li Pheow, Executive Director of IAL emphasises the role of flagship conventions such as GLLS 2024 in nurturing exchanges of ideas and perspectives, “AI is no longer a future prospect, but is a present reality rapidly shaping our world … As Singapore’s National Centre of Excellence for Adult Learning, we are here to foster dialogue and collaboration, ensuring that as AI capabilities grow, so too does our ability to leverage them for individual and societal augmentation and benefit. By fostering collaboration between diverse stakeholders, we can better shape an AI-augmented future that amplifies human potential.”
GLLS, inaugurated in 2022, is jointly organised by IAL and SkillsFuture Singapore in partnership with International Labour Organization (ILO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and UNESCO Institute of Lifelong Learning. The summit in 2024 was held from 1–2 October.
