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Jagpreet
30 July, 2024
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Artificial Intelligence has significantly evolved the world of technology. It has changed the way we study, work and plan our daily lives. Over the past few decades, the world has seen how artificial intelligence and its various dimensions have made their way into the lives of students, children, youth and young adults through various means such as educational tools that are technology-oriented for school students and higher-education students in colleges or universities. The Artificial Intelligence features make even a simple refrigerator an interesting utility for people to use. As a result, it has transformed many industries from education, medicine, corporates and several others. The collaboration of artificial intelligence with the education sector, however, has not been completely successful.
One way to look at it is to appreciate the way it has evolved our learning methods from traditional to modern, while the other is the negative impact that it leaves on courses such as liberal arts. Liberal Arts started off as an intriguingly curated programme that has a plethora of subjects to offer. Students signed up and continue to do so for how versatile and accommodating the programme has proven to be. However, in the past few years, there has been a decline in the number of students who opted for the programme due to their changing priorities. Today, they look for more such programmes where they prepare them well for their desired jobs.
There has been a constant debate around this subject. Whether or not Artificial Intelligence will affect the field of liberal arts is still unpredictable. Having said that, it is not completely possible to sabotage the field for AI is not built with the capability to completely replace the curriculum. Additionally, employers also need more people to think about the ethical concerns and the consequences of the new technological changes. Artificial Intelligence may be built for convenience but it cannot deal with the factors or in the areas, where human interference is a must. For example, the written commands that are given to the AI chatbots are also written by humans and cannot be efficiently achieved if completely handled by technological tools. Even the colleges are asked to consider the challenges technology is likely to pose and work on them to come to an effective solution that can prevent the hindrance AI may cause.
This is an absolutely necessary concern as back in the 1990s when robotics was introduced, it managed to swiftly replace quite a few blue-collar jobs. There is a rising fear that Artificial Intelligence will also replace the jobs that require college degrees. Technology is equipped to perform exceptionally. However, the part where rationality and intelligence come into play, they are exclusive only to the human roles. Machines are built with the knowledge that is already existing and they are devised in a way that they can only think or imagine to a certain limit. The human mind, on the contrary, is capable of creative reasoning and cannot be completely replaced in terms of work opportunities.
Also Read: Top 10 AI Productivity Tools: Enhance Your Workflow
It is believed that with a liberal arts degree, students have a greater edge over those who specialise in STEM-based programming. This is mainly because of the humanistic perspective that they offer along with the consideration of ethics, privacy and bias. A liberal arts degree is actually quite comprehensive in terms of its approach. It gives a multi-dimensional perspective. Along the way of developing new technological tools, there is also a need for ethics and empathy. These are some of the soft skills a student with a liberal arts degree is more likely to offer.
The rise of artificial intelligence in the workplace has also raised questions about how relevant is liberal arts education in this dynamically evolving world where choices change with a rapid speed. Since the work of artificial intelligence requires technical support and professionals who are equipped with the understanding to provide the same, there is an increasing scope in the fields that prepare individuals for jobs in areas such as data analysis, data science, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, programming and computer science. Even those who wish to pursue an MBA without any tech background can easily pursue an MBA in data science or analytics making it a versatile field for many to enter.
This domino effect creates a demand for more jobs and lucrative opportunities in a variety of sectors. This brings us to the question of whether liberal arts education adds more value to the jobs and the preparation for it or does it lag behind?
Naturally, there are multiple sides to it. Many still believe that liberal arts education has the potential to remain relevant irrespective of the changes. There are several areas where liberal arts education has managed to add value. Skills such as problem-solving, communication, creativity and empathy are all developed on the journey of pursuing this curriculum. Not just in the quintessential job roles, but such skills are useful even for jobs that require you to be adaptable and learn faster.
Workplace skills are not just exclusive to job roles and designations. For example, in the case of medicine where doctors do require skills such as the ability to make an accurate diagnosis and the scientific knowledge of treatments and medication, they also need interpersonal skills such as communication and empathy towards their patients. These skills add more value to the profession making it complete. Liberal arts education is highly efficient in preparing individuals with these necessary values. The wider scope it offers gives an opportunity for the learners to gather more information through interactions with multiple individuals, each with a different school of thought.
While there are concerns about the negative impact that it may leave, let us take a look at the pros of the impact that AI is predicted to have on the liberal arts curriculum:
Liberal arts education is expected to incorporate quite a few technology-oriented skills including data literacy. Not just the technical skills, but even the other skills such as computational thinking, and AI ethics will be an integral part of the curriculum to prepare the students for these tech-oriented job roles.
There will also be an increase in the focus on interdisciplinary programmes that blend liberal arts with STEM.
Liberal arts education in itself is a highly versatile curriculum that has been curated with the intention to prepare students with a holistic perspective. There is a comprehensive outline to the curriculum that makes sure that the students learn skills like creativity, strategic thinking, human interaction and other interpersonal skills that are exclusive only to human intelligence and can never be imitated by artificial intelligence tools.
Given the wide scope of education, liberal arts education also prepares individuals for diverse career opportunities like PR Specialist, Event Manager etc.
Also Read: Top 10 Job Roles in AI for a Promising Career & High Salaries
There is no doubt that artificial intelligence is on the verge of expanding exponentially with the ability to severely affect more job roles and career opportunities. It is also possible that it will disrupt quite a few trends. While it is commendable to see such an innovation do wonders, it is also equally important to acknowledge that human beings cannot depend on the role of technology while completely overlooking the humanistic and social perspectives. With the entrance of the new technology-oriented educational landscape, it is also important to address the principles that lie at the core of liberal arts education.
The education landscape will change as the technology will evolve over a period of time. It is not guaranteed however whether or not it will completely replace the existing educational pattern. It depends on how judiciously we combine the two to get the most favourable output.
Yes, its versatility and diverse opportunities will be the key factors in making sure that it remains relevant despite the evolving nature of technology, particularly artificial intelligence.
Here are the top five skills:
Critical thinking
Creativity
Ethical reasoning
Communication
Adaptability
Given that technology has managed to branch out several career opportunities such as data science, analytics and other such career options that see promising future growth, it is predicted that these courses will always remain relevant. Having said that, liberal arts education cannot be overlooked for what it has to offer in terms of the other soft skills that add immense value to the workplace.
Here are the skills:
Integrity
Empathy
Curiosity
Open-mindedness
Collaboration
