Turning the Tables on Technological Unemployment

While we know artificial intelligence and new technologies present a threat to human jobs, we know less about how to deal with this challenge. A number of new impact technology companies, from startups re-imaging jobs in Hollywood to empowering small farmers in Nigeria, are successfully creating new and better jobs, showing us the way forward.

Re-imagining Hollywood

About ten years ago I met Lucrezia Bisignani. Lucrezia really stood out in Silicon Valley as she was a female founder, a solo entrepreneur, was launching a company in Africa, and was an actress with a background in social innovation. At the time, few female founders existed, most founding teams were composed of an engineer and a business leader, and few were launching startups in what were perceived as high-risk markets.

Despite her unconventional background and approach, and precisely because of it, Lucrezia, succeeded in launching Kukua, a venture-backed edutainment company that originated in Africa and now serves 140 million kids worldwide. 

Lucrezia started her company after spending time with kids in schools across villages in different African countries. She wanted to create educational content that would be educational as well as inspiring. While many kids now have access to educational technologies, Lucrezia believed they needed more. She believed kids needed to be inspired to learn by seeing how they can use what they learn in their own lives and futures. Based on her time in the villages, Lucrezia created Super Sema, Africa’s first animated superhero cartoon. Super Sema is a young African girl who uses STEAM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math), to save the world. Super Sema now includes three animated series as well as educational songs, games, learning kits, toys, books and more. Kukua’s goal is to help kids learn, but also develop the confidence to become makers, creators and technology innovators. 

However Kukua is not only preparing kids for future careers, but also creating jobs in East Africa and helping Hollywood re-imagine itself in a changing world. Lucrezia works with a team in East Africa as well as several powerful black women in Hollywood including Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o, who is a shareholder in the company and executive producer of the animated series. While many in Hollywood are fearful artificial intelligence will steal their jobs, Kukua is showing a different way forward, one where entrepreneurs, actresses and producers are making the most of technology, not being displaced by it.

Empowering Frontline Workers

Another forward-thinking entrepreneur I met several years ago, Muriel Claussen Closs, co-founded a company called AnthillAI. Muriel observed that while many white-collar workers had access to on the-job-trainings at their desks or through in-person training, deskless workers were being left behind. Deskless workers, who are also often frontline workers, are the workers who sit behind steering wheels and cash registers or are on their feet all day working in hospitals or construction sites or performing other jobs that require them to be away from desks. AnthillAI initially served deskless and frontline workers by building a product that helped employers communicate, coach, and train workers through whatever device they had access to, and in over 75 languages.

Now that many companies are incorporating artificial intelligence into their businesses, AnthillAI not only trains deskless and fronline workers, but is working with them to co-create how artificial intelligence is being used in their companies and organizations. Instead of firing workers and replacing them with technology, AnthillAI is helping companies become more productive by combining the best of human talent with the best of technology. AnthillAI just released a White Paper sharing their key use cases and findings.

Re-imagining Agriculture

While you might assume bringing technology into the workplace will automatically result in human workers being displaced, ThriveAgric, based in a small town in Kaduna State, Nigeria, and now operating across Africa, is demonstrating that the opposite happens under certain market conditions.

ThriveAgric is an Ag Tech company that helps small holder farmers access cutting edge technologies, finance, and customers and markets at the lowest cost possible. ThriveAgric onboards farmers, maps their farms, helps them access agricultural inputs based on their mapped needs, and helps with harvesting and inventory management.

They are currently working with 800,000 farmers and have demonstrated that when you can use technology to fix broken markets, you create more customers which creates more jobs. They have created over 9000 jobs to date and improved food security. 

Why Are These Efforts Succeeding?

When we read about technological unemployment in the news, or even in science fiction doomsday movies, those stories often overlook something simple - the resilience and ability of people to solve their own problems. Kukua, AnthillAI, and ThriveAgric are all succeeding because they were either created by the potential victims of technological unemployment or empower potential victims to be the innovators, business leaders or even investors of their future industries. As technology, innovation ecosystems and funding become increasingly available around the world, we will see more and more innovators from within existing industries step up and lead their industries forward. This makes sense, as those innovators have intimate knowledge of the problems and challenges their industries are facing, as well as their customers, markets and ecosystems.

If you are interested in learning more about how impact technology startups and companies are changing the world, and want more insights about the future of innovation and work, check out my new book, Your Dream Job is Here: The Impact Technology Revolution and the New Jobs Saving the World.