Artificial Intelligence and the 21st-century worker’

Heather Graves

Staff

May 1, 2024

APPLETON – As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies rapidly become more prevalent in every life, businesses across industries are starting to equip themselves and their employees with the knowledge and skills needed to incorporate AI into their processes and practices.

“Many of us at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) see AI as transformational and not in the way the internet transformed things or smartphones – but more like the way electricity transformed society,” Jay Stulo, director of eLearning & Technology Solutions at FVTC, said. “It has tremendous capabilities to change the way we work.”

This mindset, Stulo said, inspired FVTC’s Business & Industry Services department to partner with Midpoint Consulting to address this very thing – through a seminar titled: “AI and the 21st Century Worker.”

“We’re partnering with Midpoint Consulting, a consulting firm out of Milwaukee, and the founders will have extensive experience in AI,” he said. “It’s important for us, FVTC, that has a presence in the community, to share what we see coming with artificial intelligence so industries in our area are prepared so the workforce can compete and keep up.”

Stulo said he’s aware of many fears of AI taking jobs, meaning replacing people.

“I don’t think that’s truly the fear,” he said. “I think the fear should be that someone who knows how to use AI will take your job.”

Seminar details
Stulo said the seminar – set for 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 16 at the D.J. Bordini Center in Appleton – is designed to provide a foundational understanding of AI and how businesses might integrate it into their business operations.

“You’ll explore fundamental concepts, practical applications, future trends and personal upward mobility strategies,” he said. “We’ll break down the mechanics and structures of AI technologies and help you envision the role AI plays in your field.”

Stulo said Israel Squires, CEO and co-founder of Midpoint Consulting, will also touch on the history of AI.

“It’s been around since the ’60s but most recently hit the news because of generative AI, with things like ChatGPT,” he said.

The seminar, Stulo said, will also touch on the different types of AI, including generative AI.

“And we’ll look under the hood and see how it works,” he said. “If you know how it’s working, you are better prepared to get good responses.”

Seminar presenters, Stulo said, will also talk about how leaders can approach incorporating AI into their businesses.

“And they are going to talk about where they see AI headed,” he said.

Stulo said the seminar isn’t just for those in IT or technologists.

“(It’s geared toward) industry leaders who are decision-makers,” he said. “It is applicable in HR, finance and manufacturing – all different sectors and all different roles.”

The why
Stulo said most people’s knowledge of AI is limited.

“When people think of AI, they think, ‘oh, ChatGPT, it can write emails for me,'” he said. “They might not understand it has other capabilities, too.”

GPT-4, Stulo said, can write and run code, which means “it can solve problems as a computer programmer does.”

“That gives it the ability to create files, create web pages and do Excel formulas,” he said. “That means all of us are computer programmers, all of us are experts in Excel – anything you can write code to solve a problem AI can do.”

One of the most powerful ways AI is changing the way we do things, Stulo said, is data analysis.

“That is a problem a lot of organizations have – we have a lot of data, but we don’t have a lot of people who can write reports and work with that data,” he said.

This can come into play, Stulo said, with manufacturing companies – which the Northeast Wisconsin region is known for – when it comes to analyzing big data.

“A lot of the manufacturing industry has big data,” he said. “All those machines have metrics and collect huge amounts of data, and oftentimes, they don’t do anything with it because they don’t have anybody with the skills who can work with big data.”

AI, Stulo said, can.

“Somebody who knows how to use AI can create some automations to start analyzing that data – it can find efficiencies, erase defects, reduce product waste,” he said.

How quickly AI has integrated itself into today’s everyday life, Stulo said, is remarkable in relation to other technologies over the years.

“ChatGPT launched in November 2022,” he said. “Within two months, it had 100 million users. Compare that to smartphones – it took nine years to get 100 million users.”

Stulo said whether or not an organization is aware, they probably have people in the office who use the technology – “and it’s important things to know to use it safely and ethically.”

At this point in the game, Stulo said many larger companies already useAI.

“92% of Fortune 500 companies are using open AI technology or some of the other AI models,” he said.

Smaller companies, however, Stulo said, are aware of what’s possible – further stressing the importance of seminars like the one FTVC is co-hosting.

‘Superpowers’
As an educational institution, Stulo said FVTC is “embracing the technology.”

“We realize some people may take the stance of, ‘students shouldn’t use this technology because that is cheating,'” he said. “But students need to understand how to use this technology responsibly and ethically because they’re going to need to compete in the workforce.”

Stulo said FVTC’s plan is to embrace the technology and look for ways to streamline some of its internal processes to accomplish more.

“Just the general increase in productivity that everybody, every worker can have – it’s important to understand that,” he said.
Stulo said he looks at AI as having the ability to give everyone superpowers – it gives us all extra abilities.

“But you still need a creative thinking person to drive that,” he said.

Stulo said he admits there may be some jobs that will be replaced, “but that is always the way with technology.”

“When technology comes in, some jobs disappear, but new jobs are created,” he said. “This is one of those situations where there are jobs five, 10 years out we couldn’t even imagine today.”

For more information on the seminar or the college’s AI efforts, visit FVTC’s Business & Industry Services department page at fvtc.edu.