As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to progress rapidly in a wide spectrum of fields, we ask the question of whether Greece is ready to harness its potential or not.
We actually focus on Greece not simply because of our interest in all things Greece related but mainly because this is a nation that became infamous for its recent financial crisis. Therefore, the AI revolution could be an ideal way for the country to turn a leaf.
With the Greek government and businesses alike acknowledging the potential of AI and its transformative power, the country will be experiencing significant changes across various industries. Sooner or later, these changes will most definitely reshape the future of work in almost every sector of Greece’s economy. How ready is the country for such a wave of transformation ahead of us?
Healthcare sectors embracing AI in Greece
The healthcare sector in Greece is among the first to witness a significant transformation thanks to AI advancements.
Machine learning algorithms were employed during the COVID pandemic to analyze vast amounts of medical data. For example, the country used an innovative system to monitor which visitors needed to be tested for COVID upon arrival to Greece. This innovative approach also enabled more accurate diagnoses and personalized treatment plans for patients.
However, the human touch remains crucial in healthcare, and Greece knows that. While AI can help medical professionals be more efficient, empathy, communication, and emotional intelligence are skills that cannot be replaced by machines. As a result, new roles will soon begin emerging combining healthcare and data science in Greece. These might include medical data analysts and AI-assisted physicians.
At some point in the near future, these professionals will have to work hand-in-hand with AI systems to deliver the best possible care to patients. The crucial question is whether Greek universities, along with local authorities, have a plan to address this new reality.
Greek finance and AI
The financial services in Greece are everywhere. Companies in financial services employ thousands of people, primarily in the nation’s larger cities, namely Athens, Thessaloniki, and to a lesser extent Patras, Heraklion, and Larissa.
This is a sector where companies have already started embracing AI tools around the world. The main goal of this new reality is to enhance particular areas of the financial sector such as risk assessment, fraud detection, and customer service, among others.
Banks and financial institutions could also use machine learning algorithms to their benefit. These algorithms could help in analysis of large amounts of data and identification of patterns and potential risks that may have previously gone unnoticed when databases were being analyzed by humans.
One similar area in which Greek companies have already adopted effective AI machines are AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants. These useful tools are revolutionizing customer service in the Greek financial sector. Such intelligent systems can handle routine inquiries and transactions, allowing human employees to focus on more complex tasks that require emotional intelligence and personalized guidance by their clients.
As AI continues to become even more present in the financial industry in Greece, new job roles are emerging. Among the new, highly-skilled roles, one can see quantitative analysts, data scientists, and AI ethics specialists being among the most sought-after. These professionals will play a crucial role in ensuring that AI systems are developed and deployed responsibly by companies, promoting fairness and transparency in financial services. As these new roles start to emerge, Greek colleges and universities need to adjust their curricula to include these new, emerging fields.
Tourism and Hospitality: Personalizing the guest experience
Greece is well-known around the world for its tourism industry because of its spectacular landscape and countless picturesque destinations. The country is attracting more than 30 million visitors each year with the numbers going up year by year in what has become one of the nation’s main sources of revenue.
AI tools have gradually been used to enhance the experience of visitors who choose Greece for vacation. These tools help smooth operations in the hospitality sector, which is already quite busy, particularly between April and October.
Among the exciting new opportunities that AI creates is the one where machine-learning algorithms can analyze guest preferences and behavior. This feature could offer valuable information to hotels and restaurants. Businesses could then offer more personalized recommendations and services, tailored to the exact needs of the guests, who would get a much more tailored experience according to their needs.
Additionally, chatbots that are powered by natural language processing can also provide instant help to guests and clients overall. Their role could vary from answering simple queries all the way to facilitating bookings and fulfilling requests. This can free up important human power to assist in other areas of the hospitality sector that could be much busier at any given time.
Behind the scenes, AI can also optimize the allocation of people and resources within the business. It could predict demand and automate routine tasks. This could end up being particularly crucial at a time when Greece expects new record numbers of visitors in 2025 with limited availability when it comes to employees. This will also allow current employees to focus on other tasks. These could involve delivering exceptional guest experiences and providing the warm, personalized service for which Greece is known.
Greek manufacturing and AI
Apart from sectors formerly mentioned, AI could also transform the manufacturing sector in Greece at a rapid pace. New tools enable factories to become more efficient and innovative in many ways. Predictive maintenance, powered by machine learning, helps manufacturers anticipate equipment failures and schedule repairs proactively, minimizing downtime and reducing costs at a rate that could have never before been imagined. Unfortunately, not many businesses in Greece are well-equipped to use these revolutionizing tools.
Another tool that could be used by Greek manufacturing is generative design algorithms. These could explore thousands of design options and optimize for cost, performance, and manufacturability, accelerating innovation in Greek industries that currently lag behind in the European arena. While some factory jobs may soon be completely automated, human workers will still be needed to guide these new AI systems, oversee production processes, and handle complex tasks that require human oversight and adaptability.
As Greece embraces Industry 4.0, as the AI revolution is often called, new roles are emerging in robotics engineering, data science, and AI integration. Upskilling the production workforce in digital literacy and AI collaboration will be crucial for success in this new era of manufacturing. Thus, Greek authorities need to speed up their efforts to support the nation’s industries.
Preparing for the future of work in Greece
To get the most out of AI while mitigating its disruptive effects on the job market, Greece has many lessons to learn from other developed nations of the West.
The Greek government has a crucial and important role to play in supporting workers and their transition to the new age. The government’s number one priority should be social cohesion. Therefore, providing social safety nets for those displaced by automation is fundamentally important. And let’s be clear: the wave of AI automation is going to be huge in just a few years from now.
The Greek government, along with the help of the European Union, should have already begun investing in education and training programs to equip Greek workers with the skills needed to thrive in an AI-driven economy. These include areas such as data literacy, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence, which are still not advanced enough in the country.
Businesses in Greece must also develop robust data strategies and responsible AI practices to ensure that these powerful technologies are ethically and transparently deployed. Greek businesses will have to avoid ethical conundrums and instead prioritize ethical and sustainable uses of new AI opportunities.
Collaborating with educational institutions and research organizations could help foster a pipeline of skilled talent ready to tackle challenges and opportunities presented by AI.
