Dubai: Will AI take over our jobs? Top executives share insights
Every generation has its own villain. If our ancestors were once plagued by war and disease, millennials have to outwit a new-age adversary: artificial intelligence (AI).
Last year, Goldman Sachs predicted that 300 million jobs would get replaced by AI globally and there is no dearth of such statistics. With AI already taking over jobs across industries and investments in the technology growing exponentially, workers across the globe are on edge, wondering how long it will be before their roles are declared redundant.
But top executives don’t foresee a future where AI will completely replace humans – at least, not yet. No one is perfect, not even AI, and there have been serious concerns regarding AI and data privacy, its biases, and limitations in handling unstructured data and understanding human behaviour. Thus, modern workplaces try to balance the human and AI workforce by using AI-powered tools and platforms to lessen the burden of routine and administrative work on employees, and allow them to focus on tasks where human presence is indispensable.
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Human vs artificial intelligence
How can educational institutions teach a generation of young learners who are so wired to the digital world that they might need a second to remember that ‘Apple’ is also the name of a fruit? The answer seems to lie in using learning tools students are most familiar with – which could mean less blackboard and chalk, and more virtual reality and augmented reality.
However, AI in education has attracted criticism for making students overly reliant on it for their schoolwork. “Educators must focus on teaching students how to use AI responsibly as a tool to enhance their work, rather than as a substitute for their efforts,” says Dino Varkey, Group Chief Executive Officer, GEMS Education, whose soon-to-be launched GEMS School of Research and Innovation will reportedly adopt the latest AI has to offer for students and teachers.
He adds that AI in education “serves to augment rather than replace human roles”. For instance, AI automates administrative chores like “lesson planning, grading and attendance management, and frees up educators’ time to focus on other tasks like interacting with students, providing mentorship, and fostering critical thinking and creativity”.
When used right, AI has endless potential. It can break down complex subjects for students, eradicate language barriers through AI translation tools, foster global collaborations between students and educators, and address the serious shortage of teachers. It can also make learning more personalised by providing feedback based on students’ performance data, and create inclusive classrooms by generating customised lesson plans for students, including those with special needs. “But the nuanced guidance and inspiration that teachers provide cannot be replicated by machines,” says Varkey.
The hospitality sector, too, doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to eliminate humans from jobs even though AI innovations like pizza vending machines, self-serving kiosks, chatbots, virtual concierges, and robot waiters are already a reality, and are only likely to get more sophisticated. This could be because unlike other industries that are data-driven, the hospitality industry runs on human connections, intuition, and emotional intelligence which AI will never be able to replace, explains Gates Hospitality CEO and founder, Dr Naim Maadad.
He and his team use AI in the business to “either enhance the guest booking journey or streamline back-of-house operations” — both of which don’t affect their interactions with guests. “It’s the server who goes the extra mile, or the host who instinctively reserves their preferred table,” points out Maadad. “Personalised service is not just about efficiency; it’s about understanding and anticipating guests’ needs in ways only people can. The warmth of human connection remains hospitality’s greatest differentiator.”
“In an increasingly automated world, the most memorable experiences will always be those shaped by people, not machines,” he adds. Balancing data and emotions Robo-advisors may have made wealth management more accessible and affordable, but even a data-driven sector like finance doesn’t function solely on something as clinical as numbers – alongside data, they also need to process emotions.
Experienced finance professionals often tap into their knowledge of human psychology, interactions and market dynamics to make good decisions, explains Damian Hitchen, Regional Head APAC-MENA region, and CEO of Saxo Bank MENA. “People want guidance, reassurance and strategies tailored to their personal goals. Financial advisors and wealth managers interpret AI-generated insights, understand complex financial situations, build trust by understanding emotions, risk tolerance and long-term aspirations, and offer advice that goes beyond data-driven insights. Human judgment and emotional intelligence are still very important.” AI has had a significant impact on the sector in other ways through automation, he explains. Operations across sectors like banking, insurance and fintech have become faster, safer and more personalised. It handles repetitive tasks like “processing transactions, improving credit underwriting by automating data collection and analysis and detecting fraud in realtime”. It even helps investors to spot market trends and tweak their strategies in real time.
And yet, Hitchen asserts that although AI is powerful, “it won’t replace humans entirely, at least in the finance sector… AI might find it difficult to grasp the complexities of market trends, geopolitical events, motivations, emotions, behavioural biases, or the intricate rules that govern the financial world”.
Can AI save lives?
AI’s role in healthcare is a topic of universal interest: one of its most-talked about advantages is that it has been known to help make quicker diagnoses by analysing medical images. Kimberley Pierce, CEO at King’s College Hospital London, in Dubai, says that AI “is reshaping healthcare in ways we could only imagine a few years ago.” “We’re using AI-powered breast mammography to detect abnormalities faster and with greater accuracy, allowing us to catch potential issues earlier,” she elaborates. “And with AI-driven clinical documentation, our physicians can spend less time on paperwork and more time focused on their patients.”
And while all this might sound exciting (more time for doctors to save lives!), Pierce stresses that AI remains “an assistant and a partner”. “Healthcare isn’t just about diagnostics and data; it’s about human connection, critical thinking and the ability to make complex, ethical decisions in real-time, which will always be irreplaceable.” So while AI can analyse vast amounts of medical data, help predict patient outcomes and even enter the operation theatre through robotic surgeries, it is no match for a skilled physician. “AI is a game-changer, but it’s not a replacement for human expertise,” she adds.
AI in real estate Issa Abdul Rahman, Chief Executive Officer, KASCO Developments, however, has a different opinion about AI’s impact on the real estate industry. He expects “team sizes across the industry to shrink as much as 50 per cent over the next few years as the technology automates, replaces, and optimises many current job functions.” “Some basic customer engagement functions have been replaced by AI agents and we expect it to continue to reduce the human capital required to execute some jobs — certain tasks that required larger teams may now only require one or two people assisted by AI,” he adds. At his company, Rahman says that they use AI to brainstorm and visualise ideas. “During go-to-market and execution, we use it to support data analysis, document preparation, project coordination, and filing.” And in an ever-evolving market like the UAE, it can help to “anticipate market trends and identify investment opportunities”.
Although he doesn’t foresee a future where AI will completely replace humans, he does expect it to make a “very significant chunk of the current workforce” redundant. “Jobs that require a human touch, especially in a field that relies heavily on trust and relationships, will survive. One of the biggest problems with AI is that it fails to take into consideration human factors that guide decisions, such as ethical and moral considerations. Therefore, there always needs to be some kind of human supervision over AI. The extent of that supervision, however, will reduce over time,” he says.
