AI has the benefit of being able to “unlock human potential,” says Kristina Francis, executive director of JFFLabs. She encourages people who are afraid of changing technology to learn it, noting that it’s here to stay and lifechanging. “We are really looking at understanding how AI is going to transform workforce education and learning.”
Francis joined WorkingNation’s editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim for WorkingNation Overheard at CES 2024 in Las Vegas to share her thoughts on the ongoing impact of artificial intelligence.
“In particular, we’re looking at mostly adult learning, but we’re also seeing the convergence and the change of how students that are in young years – K through 12 – are actually acquiring skills and how that may transform their ability to think about the jobs for the future, the skills for the future, the occupations of the future.”
Francis continues, “Imagine bringing all your senses into learning. It’s not only seeing and hearing a professor, it’s seeing the pictures, the colors, the people feeling differently, and understanding how that impacts you as an individual. I think for some children and some learners, it’s what is the imagination and the possibility [of] the benefit of AI.”
Regarding JFFLabs, she says, “Our work is focused on insights and incubation. One of the first things that we’re doing is just understanding what’s out there. How many people are actually using training for AI? What are they learning? How are they introducing themselves, not only to the concept and the mindset, but the skillsets of AI.
“We’re looking at what jobs may change, may be automated, may be complemented by or elevated by AI. We’re also looking at what are the uniquely human skills that people are going to need for the future.”
Learn more about JFFLabs.
Learn more about the Center for Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work.
Learn more about CES 2024.
Funding for WorkingNation Overheard at CES 2024 was provided, in part, by Walmart.
© Copyright 2024 by Structural Unemployment, LLC dba WorkingNation
Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.
Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.
Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.
Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.
Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.
Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.