With artificial intelligence’s continuous development, the concerns of human labor being replaced affect Utah Tech University’s future graduates.
This topic is becoming more relevant, with data showing the unemployment rate for college graduates reaching its highest point in four years at 5.8%. While not all of it is attributed to AI, it still has an impact on the job market.
The jobs that AI replaces are those that involve repetitive tasks and a set of rules, such as data entry clerks or market research analysts, among others.
A couple professors at Utah Tech addressed the rise of AI infiltrating their fields and the rising concerns among college students.
Jiachun Hong, assistant professor of communication, said the advancement of AI should be acknowledged by teachers if they want to stay up to the standard of their field. Teachers need to proactively redesign curriculum and learning experiences to prepare students for that transformation.
“AI technologies provide new opportunities, and I believe that students with necessary AI skills will have a competitive advantage,” he said. “Just as skills shifted from newspapers and broadcast to social media over the last decade, the next 10 years will favor students who understand and can apply AI.”
Hong said that AI will not replace traditional storytelling skills.
“Some people mistakenly believe that if you can type, AI will automatically produce anything for you,” he said. “You must have the vision about a story and have the prompting skills to work with AI as if you were addressing an entire production team.”
Andrew Wilson, associate professor of design, said AI has been improving the market of user interface and user experience design.
“You’ll dictate what you want and then watch the computer in real-time accomplish your task,” Wilson said. “No more clicking/searching through menus and folders.”
Wilson said knowledge is the best way to prepare for this and that students should work with AI, not against it.
Students at the university comprehend the meaning and place of this tool in their future jobs.
Gilbert Junior DaCosta, a freshman programming major from Accra, Ghana, said, “AI is supposed to help, not take over jobs.”
He said that AI is not that advanced and isn’t dominating in the computer science field.
“You always need a software engineer to fix any bugs or errors in the programs, so it’s not that reliable right now,” DaCosta said. “I correct AI sometimes and I don’t even know everything.”
Brayan Martinez Pelayo, a sophomore digital media major from St. George, said AI can replace humans in certain tasks, such as editing, but he stands on the belief that students should not be afraid of artificial intelligence.
“AI can’t replicate what humans can do because the human touch gives a different feeling to the media that you’re producing, so I feel like that makes it harder for AI to take over jobs,” Martinez Pelayo said.
Wilson said that what makes people more valuable than these programs is the ability to make decisions, think critically, analyze opportunities and our social skills. Instead of scaring student about AI, he reminds them this tool is here to amplify our productivity rather than shying away from it.
Wilson said: “Instead of wondering if AI can do your job or not, ask yourself the question, ‘How could having instant access to the largest library in the world help me in my current job/skillset? What can I do that AI can’t?’”
