When the subjects of artificial intelligence or automation come up in conversations about the state or regional workforce, it’s not uncommon to see a few people squirm in their seats.
The topic is even something that can make Waukesha County Technical College president Richard Barnhouse a little anxious.
But not for the reasons you might think.
While others may wring their hands, worried about what the technology might mean for their vocation or even the future of mankind as we know it, Barnhouse sees the interwoven advancements as opportunities – technologies that the region he serves must strive to harness before it is too late.
He addressed that need during BizTimes Media’s annual Economic Trends event on Jan. 25 at the Italian Community Center, where local leaders were brought together to give their economic predictions for 2024.
For Barnhouse, AI and automation are key to the state and regional economy surviving during a period when skilled workers are getting harder and harder to come by.
“It’s a demographic reality,” he said. “Waukesha County is going to see a 12.4% decline in the sizes of its high school graduating classes between now and the 2030s.”
Waukesha County – and Wisconsin as a whole – are not alone in that struggle. Many states are seeing demographic declines in working-age young people.
“There is still this belief out there in some circles that there is going to be this wave of humans that comes in and solves the workforce problem,” Barnhouse said. “That is untrue through the mid-2030s. And the floor really starts to drop out in 2027. It started in 2022, but looking at the statistics, 2027 is where we are going to start seeing the biggest (workforce) challenges.”
And the only way to weather that lack of workers, he said, is to create automation systems that can reduce the number of actual people needed to complete tasks and create products.
It’s why the WCTC leader has been so active in establishing programs to develop workers who are skilled in AI and are able to create and design automation systems for industries of all kinds. The college recently launched an automated systems technology program as well as the state’s first associate degree program in AI.
Stepping up
Tech schools can’t be the only ones issuing the clarion call about AI and automation, says Barnhouse. Local and state leaders must also step up, especially when it comes to developing programs to help small and medium-sized businesses come up with the capital to both purchase robotics equipment and integrate it into their existing manufacturing processes.
The big companies in the region will be able to easily invest in robotics and staff training, said Barnhouse, but it’s the smaller companies that are going to need to automate the most.
“When you think about Eaton and Milwaukee Tool, sure they’re sourcing from all over the place, but if the local supply chain breaks down because of the declining workforce and not automating in time, that will impact the big players, too,” he said. “Embracing smart automation is in everybody’s best interest.”
As 2024 unfolds, Barnhouse said we can expect to see China emerge as a leader in integrating humanoid robotics into manufacturing.
“They are facing a declining workforce indefinitely, but they are taking a proactive approach, and they are dumping money into automation and humanoid robots to mitigate it,” he said. “And so, my concern is, just as we are reshoring, we don’t have enough people. China doesn’t have enough people, but China is doing something about it.”
And automation isn’t just something manufacturers should be looking at, he said. AI can and should be utilized to adjust to a shrinking workforce in multiple sectors, including the law, communications and accounting, Barnhouse said.
“Whatever business you are in, you have a vested interest in automating. In about three years I won’t have our chief financial officer mapping out the entire WCTC annual budget anymore, we will have AI do that. It’s not that we won’t have a CFO anymore, they are just going to be doing higher-level things.”
Fight the fear
While politicians of all stripes universally balk at the idea of taking jobs away from people – making them leery of AI and its potential impacts on voters – Barnhouse says lawmakers need to be less afraid of AI and more proactive about helping to integrate it into the economy.
In the meantime, Barnhouse said he’ll keep working with a group he has pulled together in Waukesha County that is trying to build a model to help prepare small and medium-sized businesses in southeastern Wisconsin.
“I have testified before Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’ Artificial Intelligence Task Force and they are still acting like this is 1982,” he said. “There are not enough eligible people to fill the jobs that are available, but I would say that regardless of that, it doesn’t take jobs away. It makes every single employer more efficient, which allows us to compete with China. And the businesses that do this well, who aren’t fumbling over old thinking, are not going to be putting people out of work anyhow.”
