By Shantelle King
Shantelle is also committed to empowering and sharing practical advice with underrepresented women transitioning into similar creative fields from non-marketing or non-tech backgrounds.
With the government promising £3.5 billion in funding to help establish the UK as a science and tech powerhouse, AI has garnered more attention than ever over the past year. Whilst some critics claim that AI can help to “create better-paid jobs and opportunities for people around the country,” others have suggested exactly the opposite. So, how will AI actually impact the future of tech jobs? Let’s take a look…
What is Artificial Intelligence?
Since its inception in the 1950s, AI technology has advanced across the business world, and the UK tech sector is no exception. In simple terms, Artificial Intelligence is a machine’s ability to perform basic cognitive functions usually associated with human minds—from perceiving and learning to interacting with environments and creativity. If you’re open to exploring new technologies, it’s likely that you’ve already used some form of AI within your daily routine—perhaps Google Assistant, Alexa, Apple’s Siri, or even the customer service chatbots that automatically pop up on websites.
“At its most basic, AI is software that mimics and generates human behaviours—planning, generating ideas, understanding speech and visuals. Its ability to scale human intellect will have a profound impact.”
—Sulabh Soral, Chief AI Officer at Deloitte Consulting
The Rise of Artificial Intelligence in Tech
TechUK’s AI Adoption March 2023 report identified the UK as the third most significant destination in the world for private AI investment, with almost £10.8 billion being invested by the private sector between 2013 and 2022. It is now about how the UK fully acknowledges the benefits of AI and unleashes the vast potential of AI to create opportunities for businesses and society as a whole.
The first step to understanding how AI can advance tech businesses is knowing the categories that it has to offer.
- Applied AI is the practical implementation of Artificial Intelligence algorithms, techniques, and technologies to problem-solve and achieve specific business objectives. This can immensely benefit tech businesses through automated processing, enhancing overall customer experience, data analysis, and predictive modelling.
- Generative AI refers to a more creative approach, assisting with the generation of text, images, or other media in response to prompts—apps such as ChatGPT. It can be incredibly beneficial for marketers, especially with content creation, creating personalised content, and even data augmentation.
How AI Impacts the Future of Tech
Companies that lean into AI technologies can benefit from an evolved business offering, with areas such as Marketing, Sales, Product and Service Development, Operations, and IT/Engineering often seeing the most benefit from embracing AI.
How? Well, this is completely dependent on the use of Artificial Intelligence within a business and the sector in question, but key advantages can include increased efficiency, productivity, accuracy, and decision-making.
Potential Risks of Artificial Intelligence
Though AI holds great potential for improving an array of industries, it also comes with inherent risks and challenges—the most significant being job displacement, security concerns, and AI bias. As automation technology advances, the chance that some jobs become obsolete increases, and ensuring fairness and addressing bias in AI systems may also become a critical challenge.
Final Thoughts
The biggest question of all—should you be concerned?
Throughout this evolution of AI, it’s important to remember that the human touch remains essential and trust that the people responsible for AI development in businesses will make the right decisions. Machines are only being developed with human intention in mind, focusing on AI’s ability to comprehend and convert human intention into digital software instructions.
From existing Natural Language Processing (NLP) in virtual assistants and chatbots to the high potential of healthcare advancements, AI is poised to have a profound and transformative impact on the future of technology across its various sectors.
With AI assisting in repetitive workstreams, we might just have the answer to creating a more agile way of working, with a chance for tech business owners to focus on what really matters—the ability to create, innovate, and problem-solve.
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About the Author: Shantelle King
Shantelle is a digital marketer and content creator with experience in both healthcare and tech industries. She is passionate about brand development and building awareness through social media and company websites for SMEs.
After navigating the challenges of the UK job market in 2024, Shantelle created an innovative freelance business, SocialsByShantelle, that offers…