Australian Government report - Our Gen AI transition: implications for work and skills

 Job Skills Australia have published a report on the implications of Gen AI on work and skills. 

The report collates data on the adoption of Gen AI across industries. Importantly, it recommends several important ways forward for the country, including the need to ensure that tertiary educators are provided with professional development to integrate Gen AI into their curriculum as they are the vanguard for the preparation of the workforce to work ethically and critically with Gen AI. 

There is no comprehensive Aotearoa equivalent although the government has set up some of its intentions in a ministerial document from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise.

Of note that New Zealand performs poorly on AI-preparedness indices relative to small economy comparators and is the only OECD country without an AI Strategy, negatively impacting global perceptions of New Zealand as a location for digital innovation and AI investment;

An opinion piece from RNZ indicates that perhaps New Zealand's advantage lies not in chasing abstract, easily automated work, but in deepening its strengths in sectors AI cannot yet touch - food production, care and infrastructure.

All in, AI and the implications on work and in turn skills development and vocational education curriculum, requires careful consideration. However, there is a need for some urgency, given how quickly the technology is developing, to ensure all citizens are prepared for and able to work critically with AI, in whatever form its evolves to. Without doing so, we are ill-equipped to push back, when AI is imposed on occupations, whereby the management may only think about the bottom line.