Purdue’s inaugural AI summit addresses need for education and training

(Photo courtesy of Purdue University)

While artificial intelligence tools can help organizations solve tough problems, the tools also create a challenge: How and where will employees learn to properly use these tools?

“We really need to help people understand how to use the technology,” said Jake Miller, the CEO of Indianapolis-based software and product development firm Engineered Innovation Group.

Miller was among the panelists for a discussion on Thursday in downtown Indianapolis about the skills and education needed for workforce development in the age of AI.

The panel was part of Purdue University’s inaugural AI summit, a daylong event that covered a variety of AI-related topics including the technology’s impact on business, education and the workforce.

Dennis Trinkle, the senior vice president of talent, strategy and partnerships at Indianapolis-based TechPoint, moderated the workforce development discussion. TechPoint focuses on supporting Indiana’s tech industry, and one of its current initiatives, Mission 41K, aims to add 41,000 tech jobs in the state by 2030.

Citing research from the management consulting firm Gartner, Trinkle said AI is expected to impact 85% of workers within the next three to five years. In some cases, Trinkle said, workers may lose their jobs to AI. But in other cases, AI may change existing jobs to the degree that workers need to learn new skills.

And it’s imperative that employers be involved in helping their current workforce learn these new skills, Trinkle said. The ongoing tech talent shortage means that there is much more demand for people with AI skills than there are people who already have these skills.

“The typical default company strategy of reorganizing—let 2,000 people go, and turn around and hire 1,000 people—isn’t going to work, because those people [who already have AI skills] don’t exist,” Trinkle said.

Eric Stanley, the founder and CEO of Fishers-based Minority Moves Network Inc., or M2N, offered call centers as an example of an industry being heavily affected by AI. The job of sales development representative, or SDR, involves things like making initial contact with prospective customers and gathering customer data. That job is being replaced by AI, Stanley said, but with proper retraining some of those displaced workers could become managers or closers—the salespeople at the end of the process who close deals with clients.

Trinkle and several other panelists said collaboration will be key in helping workers gain these new skills, which could range from critical thinking to training on specific platforms and tools.

Panelist George Philhower, the superintendent of Eastern Hancock Schools, said he believes students need to learn how to use AI—and their teachers could also use help from industry experts to develop relevant AI-focused instruction.

Linda Calvin, the chief impact officer for Reboot Representation, said those partnerships don’t have to be with tech companies—for instance, a local pastor might be an effective partner in helping individuals connect with training.

Calvin also highlighted the need to address the technology skills gap in the workforce: “There are still people who say, ‘AI? What’s that?’ We can’t have that. We have to address that right now.”

Thursday’s summit also included panel discussions about AI’s impact on higher education, venture investments in AI, ethics and privacy concerns, semiconductors and other topics.

Dimitrios Peroulis, senior vice president for partnerships and online at Purdue, said the university was pleased with the response to Thursday’s summit, which drew 330 participants.

Looking ahead, Peroulis said Purdue is already thinking about additional AI events—perhaps making the AI summit an annual event—though it’s too early to say for sure. “There’s a desire to continue.”