Workers should not fear artificial intelligence (AI)—but they must prepare for it. That was the core message from IT consultant Jim Joseph as he warned that failure to adapt to AI could leave many behind.
“You will not be replaced by AI,” he said. “The people who will be thriving in the next five, ten years—it is not AI who will be taking jobs—it’s the ones who know how to use AI who will be the ones who will be marketable.”
Joseph, managing director of Map and IT Solutions, was the featured speaker at the official opening of Labour Day activities—being held this year under the theme Revolutionising Health and Safety: The Role of AI and Digitisation—at the Financial Centre on Wednesday. The events, organised by the Department of Labour and Gender Affairs in collaboration with the Trade Union Federation and Employers Federation, run from April 23 to May 1.
Addressing concerns about job security in the digital era, Joseph said the most common question he hears is: “Am I going to lose my job?” His blunt response: “If we don’t understand how to implement AI in a methodical way—so that workers’ rights and workers are not disadvantaged—then I can tell you all of you will be out of a job by next year.”
He emphasised that AI, when embraced and understood, can improve—not endanger—worker wellbeing, safety and efficiency. Demonstrating an AI-powered app he developed, Joseph showed how technology could be used to detect weapons or monitor workers’ physical conditions using sensors.
“These are exciting times,” he said, adding that things he once only dreamed of were now possible.
Joseph outlined a four-layer “digital safety ecosystem” for workplaces:
- Data collection – Using smart sensors to monitor heart rate, temperature, and posture.
“Traditionally, we’ve looked at data collection as somebody sitting down and typing the information in a computer. But we have to start thinking about things like smart sensors, vests with sensors, so it monitors your heart rate, your temperature, your posture… and is able to use that information to provide information on the working environment.” - Data transmission – Ensuring secure networks and high-quality Internet service.
“We need secure networks to be able to move information…and if we have to adopt artificial intelligence that uses internet as a backbone of everything that we do, we have to make sure that our telecommunication provider, our Internet service providers are up to par with the quality of services that they provide to us.” - Processing and analysis – Turning raw data into actionable safety insights.
- Response – Enabling near real-time interventions to improve workplace safety.
Joseph addressed the role of AI in addressing workplace health issues, such as mould. Drawing on his experience designing a tracking system for black Sigatoka in banana farming, he explained to St Lucia Times how AI and sensors could monitor air quality and automatically activate cleaning systems.
“There is a lot we can do in that regard,” he said. “With AI we can simply have it monitoring the air quality at workplaces and then send out alerts, and not only send out alerts, but with smart devices, we can have it doing things like cleaning and controlling the environment and putting it at a certain level.”
He noted that while equipment costs might seem high, they should be weighed against the loss of productivity and disruption that poor health and safety can cause.
In addition to technical infrastructure, Joseph stressed the importance of mindset transformation.
“We are talking about digital transformation, but there’s an even greater transformation that has to take place up here,” he said, pointing to his head. He challenged both institutions and individuals to rethink how they learn and adapt in a fast-changing technological landscape.
“Are we still waiting to do a five-year degree [when] in the space of three months, we now have a tool that has PhD-level knowledge?” he asked.
In a follow-up with St Lucia Times, Joseph expanded on the fear and resistance many workers feel toward AI. “Persons do not understand the power of the technology, and those who understand it do not see how they can educate themselves to be able to leverage the use of the technology to be able to apply it,” he said.
