We need to figure out how to get new levels of productivity out of a smaller group of people. And, of course, there are new technologies, like AI, coming into the workforce, which hopefully will enhance productivity. But, of course, we need new skills, new capabilities, and we need to bring all those things together to really create more meaningful and exciting work for all the people all across Asia-Pacific. So it's really important.
Yeah. We were at this conference today, and I was just hearing that 1 in 3 to 1 in 5 people by 2030 will be over 65 in your workforce. So it is staggering. But it's interesting, the linkage you make to productivity, because there's a lot of discussion about that at the moment. How do we make sure that that productivity benefits humans as opposed to just benefit shareholders?
Because there's a lot of opportunities with generative AI being bandied around, and I know that we both have some concerns on that front.
Yeah, absolutely. I think if we think about AI as a technology that will compete with human beings and we use that zero-sum mindset, then, yeah, there's a lot to be concerned about. But I think there is room for optimism. A lot of what artificial intelligence will do is really augment human beings. And we've been saying that for years. This is not a new conversation.
But now here's the opportunity. And if we can really find ways to get people excited about building new skills and capabilities and trying new tools and technologies, experimenting, unlocking their curiosity, perhaps the energy that they will bring to work will be so much more. Maybe they'll have that real opportunity to really engage in a different way.
And it seems to me-- I don't know what your opinion is-- that a lot of what AI will do will remove work that, frankly, people don't enjoy doing that much, anyway, that boring transactional stuff. Perhaps they'll enjoy supervising the technology rather than getting in the middle and using these tools to do boring, meaningless tasks, anyway.
Well, I am energized and inspired.
Yes.
And I've been using "amplified intelligence" instead of "augmented," just for a new phrase.
I like that better.
But I agree with you. Not everybody is on that journey. So how do we cultivate those digital-first cultures in our organization and get people as whipped-up and inspired as we are?
Yeah. I think experimentation is important, exposure, all of those nice ease that we have, and really getting people to see the opportunity with this. And also then getting them to see the path forward in terms of the kind of skills and capabilities that it gives them the opportunity to lean into. Because at the moment, what we see is a lot of reskilling programs focused on building skills that are then very difficult to find a place for in the workforce.
I think with AI coming in, we might see a lot more experimentation. Organizations are more willing to invest. They're trying to figure out ways to unlock that productivity with this new technology. And so they'll give people some room to really go and try.
And I think that is a great opportunity for leveraging curiosity, for building new capabilities. It's perhaps the catalyst that we're looking for. The one other thing I really thoughtful about here is the concept of trust. In order to leverage that experimentation, to be able to get people to lean into that, to take that risk, then we have to have mutual trust, both ways. And we've seen some progress on that, I know, but maintaining that, I think, is mission critical.
Yeah, absolutely. I'm also curious, as a fellow organizational psychologist, what are some of the new metrics and data coming into organizations that are now at our fingertips? Because this is an evolving area, and I know you, like me, have a passion for that data and how it's being used in organizations.
Yeah. So the two streams of data that I've seen being particularly interesting in recent years-- so the first is skills data. So self-discovery. We talked a lot over the last couple of days how these AI technologies perhaps can help people discover things they didn't really fully understand about themselves so that they can then unlock that and start to use it in a more purposeful way at work, and I think that can be really exciting.
So skills discovery, using these technologies, and perhaps, yeah, really connecting there. So that's one stream of data. The other is behavioral data. So what are people actually doing? When they're using tools and technologies-- let's say they're using generative AI-- we'll learn a lot about them, what they want, what their needs are. And I think that's an amazing opportunity. As long as it's done in an ethical and respectful way, people opt in. There are many ways to look at this.
But that's a really great opportunity for leaders and managers to create a real human stream of data that they can use to respond in a proactive way.