The road to success is always under construction 
On a recent trip to New York, I was amazed at how this magnificent city functions even though it is clearly overpopulated, congested by cars, and everywhere you turn there is some kind of construction going on. Then I started observing and talking to my friends who are New Yorkers, and figured that technology is helping them survive the Big Apple.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the city, the world and the global workplace. The skills required to do most jobs nowadays are changing fast, so there is a challenge to adapt. This change puts great responsibilities on governments worldwide to upskill their human capital in order to manage and leverage this new technology.
But before governments can start to do so, they need to assess their human capital, see where they are now and plan accordingly for the future. We need to be driven by data, not what we think we need. Governments need greater investment in the public education sector to be competitive in the new economy.
Demand for data science skills is growing, while demand for business skills is shrinking, according to the Coursera Global Skills Index 2019. With the increase in data being collected came the need for personalized products and services, personalized training programs and lifelong learning development plans. We need machine learning models to identify the skills needed for each industry, rather than leaving it up to personal choice.
New technology and AI will require us to become more progressive in our adaptation, otherwise our current jobs will be at risk of automation. Furthermore, I think we will see great change in the manufacturing, consumer goods and technology sectors, which will benefit from this emerging market that includes agile development, blockchain and data management.
It is governments’ responsibility to lead the way in planting the trees whose shade will be occupied by its human capital. In Saudi Arabia, we have an indication now as to where we want to be in 10 years thanks to our Vision 2030 reform plan.
Dr. Taghreed Al-Saraj is a best-selling Saudi author, an international public speaker and an entrepreneurship mentor.
