Tien spoke at a presentation at Fschools Open STEAM Day 2024 held recently, talking about what Vietnamese students need to study and what they should do in the 4.0 era.

Tien, a former senior executive at FPT, the largest Vietnamese IT technology firm, said the world is changing quickly, so students need to build a lifelong self-study ability to become the ‘best version of themselves’.

He said about 2.7 million workers in industrial zones (IZs) are facing the risk of losing  jobs. In many IZs in Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces, robots are doing the work which  previously done by humans. The most modern automobile manufacturing factory is using 1,000 robots that assemble cars.

The people who may lose their jobs to robots in the next 5-6 years could also be workers who have higher education levels and work experience, including office workers and administrative officers. Eighty five percent of accountants may lose their jobs in the future amid the rapid development of technology.

In the educational sector, he said, teachers feel pressure as some may be replaced by AI or robots in the next seven years.

“No teacher can control students better than AI. An AI lecture will stop once every three minutes, and if students cannot answer a question, the lesson will re-start from the beginning,” he said. “When a lesson ends, a test will be given to students, and if they cannot get 70 percent of true answers, they will have to learn from the beginning."

“In order to thoroughly grasp lessons, students have no other choice than concentrating on lessons and make every effort,” Tien said.

In the past, robots needed to practice carefully to be able to do certain work. But now, robots can learn themselves. They can work around the clock seven days a week. Robot rental is decreasing, just $2.5 per hour.

According to Tien, from 2027 businesses will recruit mostly workers who know how to use AI and Big Data. Also, English skills will be mandatory. 

Thuy Nga