The anticipated replacement of human workers with Generative AI (GenAI) apps has begun. Earlier this year IBM announced about 8,000 layoffs amid an AI-powered initiative.

As reported by Byte magazine, Cisco is among a group of other tech companies that most recently announced layoffs:

“Despite tech conglomerate Cisco posting $10.3 billion in profits last year, it’s still laying off 5,500 workers as part of an effort to invest more in AI, SFGATE reports. It joins a litany of other companies like Microsoft and Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, that have used AI as justification for the mass culling of its workforce. The layoffs at Cisco came to light in a notice posted with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, affecting seven percent of its staff. In a short statement, CEO Chuck Robbins used the term “AI” five times, highlighting the company’s efforts to keep up in the ongoing AI race.”

Meanwhile, ABC reported earlier this month that Cisco is expecting another large layoff of thousands of workers to be replaced by AI. “’Google’s cut back, Microsoft’s cut back. So this would not be unique for Cisco,’ said North Carolina State University economist and professor Michael Walden. The move to reduce its workforce, which the company refers to as ‘limited restructuring,’ is said to be so that the company can focus more on its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts.”

Yet, this is only the very beginning of layoffs in business, industry, and government as GenAI develops greater multi-modal capabilities and is trained to better directly serve in public relations, marketing, accounting, and associated knowledge-worker fields.

In The Rise of AI Atlantis: A New Digital Continent, Peter Diamandis, American marketer, engineer, physician, and entrepreneur and executive chairman of Singularity University, points to the insightful predictions of industry leader Emad Mostaque, former CEO of Stability AI:

“One of the most pressing concerns about AI is its impact on jobs. Emad’s paper cites estimates that AI automation puts 300 million full-time jobs at risk. However, he’s quick to point out that new AI-related roles are sprouting up everywhere, with projections suggesting AI will create 97 million jobs by 2025 across various industries. The key, according to Emad, is adaptability and continuous learning…. As we navigate this AI revolution, let’s heed Emad’s advice: stay curious, stay engaged, and above all, recognize that we all have a role to play in shaping this transformative technology for the betterment of humanity. The future is not predetermined—it’s ours to create. The time to act is now, for as Emad warns, we have a small window of opportunity to shape the future of AI. Let’s seize it and work towards a future where AI uplifts and empowers all of humanity.”

Mostaque is not alone in predicting widespread changes in the workforce. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported in January AI Will Transform the Global Economy. Let’s Make Sure It Benefits Humanity. IMF Managing Director, Kristalina Georgieva, writes

“In advanced economies, about 60 percent of jobs may be impacted by AI. Roughly half the exposed jobs may benefit from AI integration, enhancing productivity. For the other half, AI applications may execute key tasks currently performed by humans, which could lower labor demand, leading to lower wages and reduced hiring. In the most extreme cases, some of these jobs may disappear.”

IMF Managing Director Georgieva goes on to suggest “Guided by the insights from the AI Preparedness Index, advanced economies should prioritize AI innovation and integration while developing robust regulatory frameworks. This approach will cultivate a safe and responsible AI environment, helping maintain public trust. For emerging market and developing economies, the priority should be laying a strong foundation through investments in digital infrastructure and a digitally competent workforce.”

Earlier this month, NVIDIA and the state of California took steps to lay a foundation for the digitally competent workforce in a public-private collaboration with NVIDIA providing substantial training and resources to the University of California System, the California State University System and the System of Community Colleges in California. My colleague and co-author in GenAI, Katherine Kerpan of the University of Illinois Chicago, spoke with the Head of Strategic Initiatives driving innovation at NVIDIA, Louis Stewart. Her assessment is that:

“California’s strategic partnership with NVIDIA is a shrewd move, poised to accelerate AI adoption and bolster the US position in the global semiconductor race. The stark decline in US chip manufacturing capacity, from 37% in 1990 to a mere 10% in 2022, as reported by the Semiconductor Industry Association, underscores the urgency of this partnership. It tackles both the supply and demand sides of the semiconductor ecosystem, fostering a pipeline of skilled talent while driving demand for advanced chips. This forward-thinking approach to partnership underscores NVIDIA’s prescience and bold leadership, as proven by its brief reign as the world’s most valuable company in June 2024, surpassing even giants like Microsoft and Apple. This powerful collaboration demonstrates how public-private partnerships can effectively address technological challenges while fortifying national competitiveness in critical industries.”

At the advent of GenAI replacement of human positions, how can you predict the likelihood that your job might be impacted by AI in the near future? American futurist and frequent speaker, Thomas Frey, based at the DaVinci Institute in Westminster, Colorado, has developed a set of 25 questions to understand how AI will affect you and your job in the future, and gain insight into the potential vulnerability of your position.

Depending upon your answers to the 25 questions, coupled with your individual circumstances and preferences, your best option may be to upskill – that is, to develop advanced or expanded skills through additional education or training. If the path forward is unlikely to be accomplished by upskilling, alternatively, it may be to reskill. According to TechTarget:

“Reskilling is the process of teaching an employee new skills to improve proficiency in their current job or move into an advanced position. It should not be confused with retraining, the process of reintroducing a prior skill to an employee who lacks recent hands-on experience with or current knowledge of that skill.” Or, given some means of financial support other than working, the best option may be to retire or to semi-retire. Wikipedia defines retirement: “Retirement is the withdrawal from one’s position or occupation or from one’s active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload.”

It is not too early to begin to consider how the rapidly-expanding capabilities and economies of AI may impact your career in the future. As Emad Mostaque suggests, there may be 97 million new jobs created associated with AI in the next year. With wise upskilling and reskilling, one of those jobs may open a new career path for you.

This article was originally published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning blog.

The COVID-19 Pandemic brought about greater awareness of an even larger epidemic, one of loneliness in America. In higher education, it is incumbent on us to help our learners with overcoming the pain and other ill-effects of this condition.

The World Health Organization has staggering reports on mental health around the world:

In 2019, 1 in every 8 people, or 970 million people around the world were living with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depressive disorders the most common (1). In 2020, the number of people living with anxiety and depressive disorders rose significantly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial estimates show a 26% and 28% increase respectively for anxiety and major depressive disorders in just one year (2). While effective prevention and treatment options exist, most people with mental disorders do not have access to effective care.”

Earlier this summer, the US Surgeon General warned about the dangers of loneliness:

Loneliness is like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling that we experience when something we’re lacking for survival is missing from our life. And if we respond to it, relatively quickly, it may go away. But just like hunger or thirst, it’s when it persists for a long period of time, when we’re not able to figure out how to address it, that is when we start to worry…. One in two adults in America are living with measurable levels of loneliness, but the numbers are even higher among young people.

The impact of loneliness is deep and far-reaching. It is not limited to brief episodes that lower energy and enthusiasm. Instead, the Surgeon General, in the same June interview with ABC, says, “We know now that when people struggle with things socially disconnected, over time, that it can have an impact on their mental health, increasing their risk for anxiety and depression, but also in their physical health, increasing their risk for heart disease, as well as dementia and premature death.”

The consequences of this affliction are very great. On-campus resources have been available for learners over the past decades. Mental health centers have refined their efforts to establish best policies and practices to assist those confronting such issues. Of students who participated in the U.S. News/Generation Lab poll and indicated they wanted mental health support:

77% were successfully connected to mental health care. Most of them – 70% – said they received resources for help right away or after about a week, while 7% had to wait more than three months. Students sought care for a range of reasons, such as anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts, substance abuse and trauma. Among survey respondents who received support, 69% felt it was sufficient.

However, with the growth of distance learning, comes the same problems, yet without the easy ability to meet face-to-face with those facing loneliness and resulting depression.

The University of Michigan Counseling and Psychological Services reports that nationally:

1. Suicide is the #2 leading cause of death for college students
2. Approximately 1,100 suicides on college campuses per year
3. 25% know of someone who has died as a result of suicide
4. 40% know of someone who has attempted suicide

The numbers on campuses are staggering, while the mental health data for online students at a distance are sparse. Those at a distance are not as closely monitored by the university as those on the campus. For many of these distant students, however, the pressures can be even greater due to factors such as isolation, family responsibilities, full-time workloads, and other challenges for which campus students have ready-access to support.

As a result, we are seeing an increasing role for rules-based AI chatbots to provide frontline and continuing support. In most cases, these tools utilize a far more restricted set of data than Generative AI (GenAI) bots to ensure that the responses are from highly-vetted, safe sources. They are most useful for those who are not in crisis, but who feel more comfortable interacting with a computer than with a person in seeking advice about very personal mental health topics.

One of the first such apps, Woebot, was initially developed by research psychologist and entrepreneur Alison Darcy in 2017. As CBS News reported earlier this year,

Woebot is a system based on rules that’s been very kind of controlled, so that way it doesn’t say the wrong things. Woebot aims to use AI to bond with users and keep them engaged. Its team of staff psychologists, medical doctors, and computer scientists construct and refine a database of research from medical literature, user experience, and other sources. Then, writers build questions and answers. And revise them in weekly remote video sessions. Woebot’s programmers engineer those conversations into code. Because Woebot is rules-based, it’s mostly predictable. But chatbots using generative AI, that is scraping the internet, are not.

The University of Maine Counseling Center has reviewed nearly two dozen free apps that may provide useful support to students seeking help with supporting their mental health. At the top of their list is “Mind Shift” that the center describes as “A great tool for anxiety available on iPhone and Android, developed by Anxiety BC. It teaches relaxation skills, develops new thinking, and suggests healthy activities. Designed for youth but useful to anyone.” Anxiety Canada is located in Vancouver, Canada, and was established in 1999. Anxiety Canada is a registered charity created to raise awareness about anxiety and support access to proven resources and treatment. The app utilizes “strategies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) to help you manage your anxiety.”

A series of studies from Harvard Business School are in the working paper titled AI Companions Reduce Loneliness By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet K Uguralp, Zeliha O Uguralp and Puntoni Stefano that concludes:

From a societal point of view, the promising results found here suggest that AI companions could be a scalable tool for loneliness reduction against the backdrop of a severe loneliness crisis. Whether chatbots can help reduce loneliness has recently been the object of intense debate (Marriott and Pitardi 2024) and rigorous empirical evidence in this area was sorely needed. In a series of tightly controlled and high-powered experimental studies, we find compelling evidence that AI companions can indeed reduce loneliness, at least at the time scales of a day and a week.

It is encouraging that efforts are being made by many such responsible professionals and organizations in the field to develop AI tools that can help the nearly one billion people the WHO reports are affected. This is one of the areas of great potential for AI, but also one in which great caution must be taken. How is your university responding to the mental health needs of your distant, online students? Have you found ways to balance the good that might be done with the health dangers to individuals that may be caused by well-intended but inadequate or inappropriate responses?

This article was originally published in Inside Higher Ed’s Transforming Teaching & Learning blog.