{"id":254,"date":"2021-08-17T17:18:52","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T00:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/learn-lab\/?p=254"},"modified":"2022-05-11T10:20:57","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T17:20:57","slug":"the-most-valuable-intelligence-isnt-artificial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.autodesk.com\/learn-lab\/2021\/08\/17\/the-most-valuable-intelligence-isnt-artificial\/","title":{"rendered":"Machines Are Getting Smarter, but the Most Important Intelligence Isn\u2019t Artificial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Why Autodesk is investing in K-12 learners worldwide. – Daria Zhao<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat language should she learn next?\u201d my niece’s parents mused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The year was 2012. My niece, Jing Jing, had just turned 4, and the question referred to what would be her third language after Mandarin, her native tongue, and English, a requisite for the upwardly mobile middle class in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking through the WeChat video screen at my niece fumbling with a teddy bear in the background, I gave the most preposterous answer I could think of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cC++,\u201d I quipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My aunt and uncle beamed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, I can\u2019t help but feel a twinge of responsibility when I video chat with 13-year-old Jing. Jing’s room overflows with trophies from Scratch coding competitions, co-curricular math workbooks, and mechanical machinations from robotics summer camps. She is a coding whiz kid, a regional math champion, a budding programmer fluent in Python, Java, and soon JavaScript. She is readying herself to compete in the global workforce. She is prepared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is she?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimated that \u201c65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don\u2019t yet exist<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What good does knowing JavaScript do when those jobs might not exist? Those skills might get her a job today, but what about in 2030 when she enters the workforce? What about tomorrow?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The World Economic Forum estimates that 65% of kids entering elementary school today will end up working in jobs that don\u2019t yet exist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

My Chinese relatives\u2019 anxiety is understandable. In a country of 1.39 billion people, where the number of students enrolled in degree programs grew five-fold<\/a> in the span of 14 years, the job market is tightening. White-collar job growth has tapered off<\/a> while wages stagnate<\/a>. Postsecondary degrees don\u2019t hold the same weight. Beijing even cracked down on wildly popular after-school training services<\/a> this year, citing unscrupulous business practices that prey on the anxieties of the middle class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Young people attend a job fair in central China’s Hubei Province, Dec. 2, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua\/Xiao Yijiu)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Class anxiety, to be sure, has always existed. It isn\u2019t exclusive to China, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s new is the growing body of research that points to how automation and globalization will upend the nature of work, the types of work available to humans, and how people and machines work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While business and government are figuring out the best steps forward for society, what\u2019s a young person today to do?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In its Future of Jobs Report<\/a>, the World Economic Forum hails a \u201cFourth Industrial Revolution\u201d in which new job categories emerge, displacing others, and the skills needed to thrive in all occupations adapt alongside their industries. Where will people work? How will people work? What skills will they need to succeed in the jobs of the future?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pandemic has already shown us one answer to the first question: anywhere, if your job (and your CEO<\/a>) allows for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My employer, Autodesk, is working with cross-sector leaders to help answer the other two questions. With support from the Autodesk Foundation, we explored the unique opportunities and challenges for workers across Asia Pacific. What we found surprised us<\/a>. While digitization and automation will affect all workers across sectors and geographies, some are more at risk. And while solutions abound, workers who cannot access them\u2014especially those who don\u2019t speak English\u2014are most at risk of being left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Autodesk is also working closely with the World Economic Forum to integrate its global skills taxonomy into our upskilling and reskilling programs for our employees and customers to ensure they can thrive long into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Future of Work Practice Lead at Autodesk, Kate McElligott<\/strong>, \u201cIn the future, workers will be increasingly hired based on their skills and expertise rather than pedigree or prior experience. As a result, new systems are needed to validate knowledge in increasingly nimble and creative ways\u2014which is both exciting and disruptive to the status quo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWorkers will be increasingly hired based on skills and expertise rather than pedigree. New systems are needed to validate knowledge in increasingly nimble and creative ways.\u201d<\/p>Kate McElligott, Future of Work Practice Lead at Autodesk<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Systemic change takes time. But in the short term, workers can focus on acquiring the most in-demand skills that don\u2019t require formal education. According to WEF, active learning, resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility are increasingly in demand, with critical thinking and problem solving topping the list of skills<\/a> employers believe will grow in the next five years. Combine these with the right technical skills and students are well placed to succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Autodesk is committed to inspiring the next generation to imagine, design, and make a better world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While businesses and governments are figuring out the best steps forward for society, what\u2019s a young person today to do? Here are the things I know to be true:<\/p>\n\n\n\n