Ethics & Technology Conference: Will Intelligent Machines Prepare the Next Work Force?: Three Perspectives.

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Efforts to prepare the next generation of workers have evolved over the centuries, in large part because of technologies that allow for more efficient forms of knowledge dissemination. Despite these technological advancements, the basic norms underlying workforce preparation have remained remarkably stable. But recent developments in machine intelligence generally and machine creativity specifically will likely reshape workforce preparation, as there are now an indefinite number of ways that artificial agents can provoke, inform, and facilitate change in human skills and knowledge. This has major ethical implications, as knowledge transfers from human to human are value-laden in explicit and implicit ways, and that may not always be true in an educational paradigm dominated by artificial agents. These potential developments take on even more relevance when combined with another trend, namely the growing efforts of big tech to educate their own workforce. These rapid developments promise to bring significant changes to the education sector.
These trends raise important questions, such as:
· How can AI technologies be used to better prepare workers for success not just in short term work tasks but for long term careers and other life paths?
· What are the ethical threats associated with depending on these technologies and what can be done to mitigate them?
· What are the implications for the growing trend of big tech to prepare their own workers?
· What are the implications for traditional, accredited educational institutions?
· Are traditional educational institutions collaborators or competitors with the educational programs of the tech industry?
· Are artificial agents collaborators or competitors with human educators?
· Will non-accredited organizations be more nimble in adopting these technologies?
· Will intelligent machines take the jobs of the very workers they train?