In a world where artificial intelligence learns faster than we have time to educate it, a major risk looms: that of the mass destruction of tasks performed by humans, and with them, entire professions.
Thanks to AI and its ability to break down language barriers in the blink of an eye, a new modern Tower of Babel continues to rise… while millions of young people are still searching for a foundation on which to build their future.
All these young people will need to be employed. Not those who graduate from engineering schools or AI master’s programmes, but the others. These millions of young people with BTS, Bac+2 or Bac+3 qualifications in technical, commercial or administrative fields. In this new game, intermediate qualifications are likely to be the big losers.
Behind every BTS in management, sales or accounting lies a legitimate fear: that of becoming obsolete in the face of algorithms. When accounting is automated and customer relations are outsourced to increasingly humanoid chatbots, what will remain for young people with short training courses, non-linear career paths and talents without influential networks?
The good news is that part of the solution could well come from our sector. Hospitality is not just a process. It is a presence. It is based on what artificial intelligence cannot master – or at least not yet: paying attention to others, subtly anticipating needs, spontaneous smiles, reassuring gestures.
In a society that is slowly shifting towards entertainment, care and emotion, we, the hospitality industry, are potentially the major recruiters of tomorrow.
But we still need to give ourselves the means to do so
This requires a massive commitment to training through new investments. But not training that is out of touch with reality, rather training that is directly linked to changes in the regions, the needs of customers and the aspirations of new generations. The LYFE Institute has just illustrated this approach with its courses on marketing vineyards to tourists: wine tourism, which is so dear to Hervé Novelli and Gaëtan Bouvier. It is not just a question of learning a trade, but of understanding a culture, bringing a region to life and connecting ancestral know-how with contemporary demand.
This is just one example that calls for new ones to create genuine vocations. To breathe new pride into careers that are often stigmatised. And above all, to prevent the technological divide from becoming an irreversible social divide. Artificial intelligence will transform the world. That is an undeniable fact. But hospitality can still transform lives. That is our essential challenge.
What if hospitality, often presented as one of the world’s oldest professions, were to become one of the last ‘real’ professions? One where the hands, head and heart work together. One that cannot be taught solely from a book, but through exchange. One that may save more than just a sector: a generation. It relies on what AI cannot and may never be able to produce: attention to others, an unprogrammed smile, reading between the silences, a gesture that soothes without words.
