What makes employees successful at using AI? That’s a good question!

Is Switzerland ready for the AI revolution?

Unfortunately, not 100%. The development of digital skills is not equally advanced in every corner of society, which leads to less willingness to experiment. Knowledge workers, who’s jobs were less impacted by automation, are now also affected. Tasks such as concept writing can also be automated, which opens up a new dimension in the discourse on digitalisation.

Why are knowledge workers lagging behind in this field?

It’s due to a lack of digital skills. Many knowledge workers are fascinated by the new AI tools, but often don’t have the time to get to grips with them in depth. They neglect many functions of common programmes such as Word or Excel, tools that have evolved very quickly.

They are familiar to a certain point with digital tools, but they lack in-depth expertise, which goes beyond the mere use of such tools. We often fail to engage critically with a tool, because we believe we have no alternative.

Precisely what skills must employees acquire in the digital age?

An important competence is precisely to engage critically with AI as a tool. To be able to do this, we need to understand how an artificial intelligence works, what data it uses to generate output, and what premises it was developed on.

It’s a bit like a mother saying to her child: “The trees are green because someone painted them.”. Like the child, we need to realise that not every answer has to be accurate and true, regardless of who formulates it.

It is clear that asking the right questions will be even more important in the future. Prompt engineering is currently being discussed as an important competence. However, it only involves asking specific questions or formulating tasks precisely. However, questions or tasks need a context so that they can be answered by another person or by a Large Language Model (LLM), especially if we expect an “accurate” answer.

Creativity is also an important skill that is likely to shift. In the AI age, it lies in the ability to formulate creative questions, combinations or tasks. An LLM can reply “without inhibitions” and thus generate answers that we humans might not dare to give.

How can these AI skills be taught?

Through targeted continuing education. Some employees certainly need resources and a clear plan of action. Strong support can be provided at institutional level. At BFH, we have made good experiences by integrating digital skills in our students’ curricula. And we always pay attention to the development of employees’ digital skills during the feedback and development interviews (FEG).

However, it is also clear that digital expertise is becoming increasingly rapidly obsolete due to the speed of technological development. So we always make sure that we impart skills, not knowledge.

Who is responsible for ensuring that workers are fit to work with AI?

AI is a technology, and as such it must first find acceptance. Technology acceptance is well researched, and we know that many factors influence it. In general, the necessary infrastructure and contact points are needed. At an individual level, the personal and professional attitude must be right and there must be a certain openness to change.

In the adoption of AI technologies, we notice a certain schema, as with the emergence of the internet and Google: first, a few pioneers experiment with the technology, then a larger group of settlers build the first infrastructures before the town planners make innovations accessible to the general public.

Such gradual change is important, as it gives people time to adapt. The responsibility therefore lies with the organisation, which must support and accompany such a change, and with all of us, as we must be willing to follow this path.

What does BFH do to support the transition to working with AI?

BFH pursues a competence-oriented approach to teaching. With our Future Skills (German site), we offer students a framework that prepare them for the demands of the future. Our task now is to communicate better that these skills are crucial, and how lecturers and staff can make use of the existing offerings.

Obviously, the continuing development of a university takes time. However, we cannot only work in long strategic cycles. We should plan to work on the system – meaning on our employees’ skills – and work on it regularly.

So, artificial intelligence is not such a big thing after all?

I understand the hype surrounding it. Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool. But, precisely, it’s just a tool – like the internet and Google before its emergence. AI is not going to fundamentally change the way we do things.