From Disruption to Opportunity: AI and the Future of Work

AI is transforming the nature of work — not just on a global scale, but right here in West Michigan. From advanced manufacturing to healthcare, financial services to logistics, artificial intelligence is simultaneously disrupting traditional roles and unlocking new potential across the region. This session explores AI as both a challenge and a catalyst for workforce transformation.

Drawing on national research and local labor market insights, we’ll examine how AI is:

• Creating new job categories, especially in AI-adjacent fields like automation maintenance, logistics tech, and digital customer service.
• Accelerating demand for human-centered skills such as adaptability, empathy, and critical thinking — now increasingly prioritized in regional job postings.
• Reshaping access to jobs and career mobility, with West Michigan seeing rising demand for “skills-first” hiring over traditional degree requirements.

You’ll learn how AI is reshaping West Michigan’s workforce, the need to redesign job descriptions around skills, the impact of AI-powered tools for career navigation, and inclusive, future-ready talent strategies that balance innovation with equity. Grounded in real-time data and built for action, this session offers clear strategies that employers, educators, and community leaders can implement now to prepare for — and shape — the future of work.