What happened
Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are enabling systems to perform nearly all human-executed jobs more efficiently, with an "economic singularity" predicted within 10-20 years. This shift sees organisations increasingly investing in AI-driven services, concurrently reducing human headcount. Unlike prior automation focused on manual tasks, current AI capabilities extend to cognitive knowledge work, fundamentally altering traditional employment structures.
Why it matters
The accelerated adoption of AI for cognitive tasks introduces a significant operational constraint by reducing human control over core knowledge work processes. This shift increases exposure for operations management and human resources to workforce restructuring challenges and necessitates higher due diligence requirements for AI system integration and ethical governance. The burden falls on strategic planning and risk management teams to adapt operational frameworks to manage outputs from increasingly autonomous AI systems, creating a potential accountability gap in decision-making.
