Rishi Sunak Shares Skills Young Job Seekers Should Learn in the AI Age

Within the age of AI, former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has some very human job-seeking recommendation for his two teenage daughters.

It boils all the way down to: You would possibly quickly be managing an AI bot, however that does not imply you need to develop into robotic your self.

Talking at Bloomberg’s New Economic system Discussion board in Singapore on Wednesday, Sunak mentioned it is “important” for folks to grasp “AI literacy expertise” so they do not lose their position to somebody who’s proficient with AI.

Alongside utilizing AI instruments, he mentioned his recommendation to his daughters is to develop “human-to-human interplay” expertise akin to empathy and important considering.

“We’re by no means going to lose the significance of having the ability to assume, to purpose, to query critically, so I believe these expertise will probably be extremely vital for our younger folks to develop,” mentioned Sunak, who added that his view on expertise and the job market is knowledgeable by the work of Stanford economists in addition to LinkedIn information.

“And so I would make it possible for my ladies spend time growing these expertise as they develop up,” he added.

Sunak’s feedback come as tech leaders, akin to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, have warned that AI might squeeze the entry-level job marketplace for white-collar employees. Since his tenure as UK prime minister led to July 2024, Sunak has taken on advisory roles at Microsoft, Anthropic, and Goldman Sachs.

The previous prime minister additionally joined a rising crowd of individuals predicting that employees should learn to manage teams of AI agents, that are software program packages that may autonomously deal with duties.

“Everybody, whether or not you are a brand new graduate or a senior chief, goes to should get used to managing a staff of brokers,” he mentioned, including that the “age of brokers will come comparatively shortly.”

He mentioned that “very younger graduates” should perceive what it means to handle a staff of AI brokers, akin to how they divide up duties and confirm the accuracy of the work they do.

“It’s going to require, I believe, a mindset to simply continue to learn and maintain curious,” Sunak mentioned.

Whereas prime minister, Sunak hosted the UK’s first AI Safety Summit in 2023, which attracted politicians like then-US Vice President Kamala Harris and tech leaders like Elon Musk and Sam Altman.

Talking on the Bloomberg event, Sunak mentioned it isn’t incompatible for nations to undertake AI shortly and safely. He advocated for hands-off regulation of AI and mentioned governments ought to as a substitute work with AI labs to guage the expertise’s dangers.