Source: Al-Wafd Newspaper
Prof. Dr. Ali Mohammed Al-Khouri
The world is witnessing an unprecedented boom in production and work systems under the influence of artificial intelligence, which has become a structural force redefining the meaning of economic value. The rapid development of algorithms and machine learning has become part of a new logic governing the global political economy, where power and job opportunities are redistributed based on who possesses the ability to direct, not merely to utilize. In light of this transformation, the future of work becomes an arena for adaptation in a world where artificial intelligence transcends the boundaries of routine tasks to become an integral part of decision-making, knowledge acquisition, and production.
The last decade has revealed the remarkable superiority of intelligent systems in fields such as data analysis, medical diagnosis, market monitoring, supply chain management, and customer service—areas that previously required accumulated human expertise and precise skills. However, with technological advancements, jobs based on routine or repetitive performance are gradually shrinking, while the need for jobs based on analytical thinking, intelligent systems design, understanding complex data structures, and managing human-machine interaction is growing. These shifts are changing the shape and nature of jobs, with professional values now linked to the ability to adapt, absorb new technologies, and produce digital knowledge, rather than the traditional skills we have known since the previous industrial revolution.
However, this major shift presents the world with new paradoxes, which can be interpreted within the framework of political economy theories that posit technological transformations reshape societies’ relationship with their resources and distribution patterns. The gap between those who possess artificial intelligence tools and those outside this system is widening rapidly, transforming into a knowledge and skills gap that threatens social stability in various countries. Furthermore, the increasing reliance on intelligent systems in sensitive production and service sectors raises questions about governments’ ability to keep pace with this legislative and regulatory change, at a time when the risks associated with cyberattacks and the use of algorithms to manipulate public opinion or influence markets are escalating.
In the Arab region, the battle for the future of jobs appears more complex, as technological challenges intersect with traditional economic structures, weak investment in scientific research, and a clear lag in modernizing education systems. Nevertheless, the region’s large youth population presents an opportunity to reshape its position on the global economic map, provided it adopts a strategic vision that treats artificial intelligence as a new productive space. Clearly, the future belongs to those who possess the ability to generate knowledge-based economic value and to cultivate a generation capable of working with and developing algorithms, not merely operating them.
Amid this changing reality, it becomes essential to reconsider educational systems as tools for national security, not merely as service sectors. The Arab world needs educational systems based on research and analysis, and curricula that integrate artificial intelligence and data literacy at early stages. Institutions also need a new culture that doesn’t prioritize layoffs but rather fosters continuous learning environments capable of retraining the workforce to meet the demands of the digital economy. Simultaneously, developing flexible legislation and pursuing an economic transformation based on innovation and entrepreneurship becomes part of a broader strategy to protect society and ensure its role in the new global order.
Upon closer examination of global developments, it becomes clear that artificial intelligence is fundamentally altering the relationship between humans and their work. In the future, jobs may become less reliant on manual skills and more on critical thinking, combining technical knowledge with social understanding. This may necessitate a philosophical shift in our understanding of the human role in the economy, the concept of value, and the nature of individual contribution to production within a world governed by speed and innovation.
In light of these new equations, a question arises that transcends the boundaries of economics and technology, a question that revolves around whether artificial intelligence represents a natural extension of the digital revolution, or constitutes a foundational moment for a new global economy based on the possession of knowledge rather than reliance on physical capital.
The outcome of this transformation may not only shape the jobs of the future, but also contribute to defining the shape of societies and nations, and to drawing the lines between those who lead the world and those who follow, and between those who produce knowledge and those who remain consumers of it. The current stage may be a genuine opportunity to rebuild a different vision of the role of human societies in the economy of tomorrow, and to establish a new social system that integrates humans into an advanced working relationship with intelligent systems, transforming jobs into spaces that combine human sensitivity with computational precision, thus creating a different work cycle that grants societies a greater capacity to adapt to the future.
