It’s no shock that the workforce is changing. As artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to take off, people often become afraid of losing their jobs or having robots replace them. Yet the future is brighter than people might expect.

“Automation, machine learning will extensively change the whole way of working,” said Sebastiaan Laurijsse (pictured), senior director of IT infrastructure services at NXP Semiconductors N.V. “But we still need more and more people.”

Laurijsse spoke with Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and Rebecca Knight (@knightrm), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, at theServiceNow Knowledge event in Las Vegas. They discussed machine learning and alleviating fears around the changing workforce. (* Disclosure below.)

Calming fears around AI in the workforce

While machine learning is the inevitable progression of the future, and many jobs will become more automated, this isn’t a true need of concern for people, according to Laurijsse. Why? Because people will always be the important link between data and innovation.

“The innovation, of course, comes from a lot of data, but still have people who connect the dots of never existing connections before,” Laurijsse said. “If you have a lot of data and you don’t know which question to ask, would you build a new solution? So it’s still about smart people and creativity.”

Implementing automation and machine learning into companies doesn’t have to be driven by fear, Laurijsse pointed out. “It’s about building a joint incentive between your … workforce. What’s the incentive for them on automation?”

As AI and machine learning become more and more a part of a company’s culture, then AI and machine learning can help support the culture instead of take away from it, Laurijsse added. “It’s about orchestrating the future way of working,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the ServiceNow Knowledge 2018 event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for ServiceNow Knowledge 2018. Neither ServiceNow Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE