The world must prepare for the future. Futurist and tech expert Gerd Leonhard explains that advances in Artificial Intelligence mean that job automation can replace human labor. Statistics indicate that 48% of jobs in our country could be at risk due to the arrival of technology.

In his talk at Tec Business Summit 2023, entitled The Future of Organizations: Revolutions and Transformations, Leonhard discussed his predictions for the future and the changes they will bring to society, particularly to business and industry.

Leonhard noted that these “revolutions” will bring exponential technological transformations in computing, climate technology, and biotechnology.

“Although humans will rarely be replaced by Artificial Intelligence, humans already using AI will replace non-using-AI humans,” he added.

Artificial Intelligence taking over jobs

“We will lose jobs that automation will do, but we will also have new jobs based on these changes,” remarked Leonhard, who was listed as one of the top 100 influencers in technology by Wired magazine in 2015.

He said that today is the period called the digital revolution due to advances in technology and connectivity, such as Artificial Intelligence platforms like ChatGPT. However, two other “organizational revolutions” accompany this change.

“Millennials and centennials are already entering positions of power and will be in charge of the new society. They will ask for more sustainability and purpose. They will not only be looking for money,” said Leonhard, who is also a writer and calls himself a Futurist.

In the summit coordinated by the EGADE Business School at Tec de Monterrey, the motivational speaker and businessman explained that the other two revolutions are the sustainable revolution and the revolution of purpose, which will bring about technological changes and a more humanistic and ecological approach.

This is derived from the changes that society is currently experiencing after the challenges and lessons learned from the pandemic, geopolitical conflicts, and inflation, among other aspects.

These revolutions will bring exponential technological transformations in computing, climate technology, and biotechnology. “We will lose jobs that automation will do, but we will also have new jobs based on these changes,” he remarked.

Automation could open spaces for people to stop performing repetitive jobs and instead focus on promoting sustainability and humanism, as well as advancing on issues of genomics, water, food, and energy, where there could be more collaboration to address new challenges.

“It’s the end for every routine that can be digitized, automated, or virtualized, but it’s not the end of human work,” he explained.

AI: A new human renaissance

Leonhard pointed out that technology such as Artificial Intelligence will be applied more and more in different areas, especially in agriculture. However, the importance of human work to reduce biases is crucial.

These changes, Leonhard predicted, will bring about a new human renaissance, in which businesses and entrepreneurs will be supported by this technology but will also focus on the human development of companies, putting human development at the center.

Leonhard was one of the speakers at the Tec Business Summit 2023 event, which brought together more than 600 business leaders in four locations: Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Querétaro.