New positions are created despite some jobs being made obsolete by AI —Accenture

While a number of jobs at Accenture was lost due to artificial intelligence (AI), an official of its Philippine office said these were mostly replaced by the new jobs created in the process.

“We have anticipated this. We know the impact of technologies and because of technology, there are some jobs that were at risks of being automated, but there were also new jobs created,” said Accenture Philippines country managing director Lito Tayag.

Tayag cited results of a study by Accenture, called “Reworking the Revolution,” which showed new jobs are being created in the industry.

The study noted a “net gain” on employment as the creation of new jobs offset the jobs that were lost due to new technologies.

Workers in information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) are facing “extinction” due to artificial intelligence, particularly those doing tasks that may be executed by a program.

While AI and automation will eliminate some jobs, such as those that are “routinized,” new roles are emerging and being created, Benedict Hernandez, Accenture operations lead in the Philippines, earlier said.

“It is important for us to reshape the workforce … And we retrain the workforce. We have anticipated this,” Tayag said.

“We were able to reshape some of the jobs. The net effect is that we have grown at Accenture. We have very clear points of view about the future of the workforce,” he added. —VDS, GMA News