到2020年，美国四分之一的劳动力都将年过55岁接近退休，出现人称“银发族海啸”的现象。届时电力、通信和制造业等众多领域可能会缺少熟练的工人，但增强现实不但有望解决劳动力老龄化带来的种种问题，还可能改变未来员工培训的方式，从根本上提高生产率。

2016年，美国各行各业的企业为培训员工人均投入将近1000美元，大部分都是传统方式，例如在教室内研讨或者开课，即便网上有培训单元也在模仿课堂培训。这种教学方式几百年来都能满足人们的需求，特别是在将学习能力跟记性好坏划等号的年代，很多文化中都认为记忆力卓绝能背得出长篇大论的人最优秀。而随着人类知识范围拓展，美国教育家约翰·杜威等人认识到，了解信息的重要性以及信息与世界的关系才是真正的学习，也应是学习的目标。

未来几年，机器学习和增强现实有可能推动这两种教育方式提升一个台阶，帮助员工在最需要的时间和地点尽可能获得最新也最准确的信息。

数字现实可以通过以下四种方式掀起企业培训领域的革命：

实时信息

增强现实眼镜或面前有显示屏的安全头盔可以帮助一线员工参与培训，识别设备后可按步骤指导员工走流程。负责维修保养的工人可以观察石油钻井平台上特定型号的高压设备或者模型，安全地完成诊断和维修操作。如果相关信息过时或者淘汰，企业无需重新培训员工。企业添置新设备后，系统将自动升级，所有一线员工都能掌握最新的信息。员工只需要学习如何使用数字现实硬件，就能确保完成一线工作。采油企业给各处外派员工培训所花的时间将减少，从而提高生产率。

技能熟练的员工以虚拟形式出现

用上“见我所见”（SWIS）眼镜后，经验丰富的员工几乎无所不能。任何公司里员工的技能和经验都不可能完全一样。一旦现场发生不同寻常的问题，往往需要特别调派人手上阵，耗费时间和金钱。以后如果发现出了不熟悉的问题，企业不用再派资深技术员前往现场，技术高手现在可以在指挥中心工作，通过增强现实眼镜看到现场服务团队发现的问题。比如吊车操作员可以遥控世界各地工程现场的吊车。经验丰富的员工根本不用离开办公桌，就能跨越时空限制发挥技能。

保持技能和知识水平

增强现实系统可以保存员工宝贵的学识和深刻见解。即使有经验的员工退休了，高超的技术也可以永远留在企业里。美国政府最近发布的一份报告预计，十年内将有半数电线工人退休，导致相关技工短缺，甚至可能影响美国的能源网。人工智能系统可以现在就开始观察员工正确的操作，从中学习和适应，发现错误操作可以学着避免，进而变得更聪明、更安全。随着机器学习加入未来系统，无论哪位员工有新发现，所有员工都可以受益。培训系统可以逐渐推动生产率和安全性提高。

通过日常设备进行机器学习

最后一点，希望通过增强现实加强培训的企业并不用依赖下一代硬件。苹果新推出的增强现实平台ARKit可以将当前的硬件变为强大的增强现实培训工具。今年6月，苹果主管软件工程的高级副总克雷格·弗德里吉在最新一届开发者大会上精辟地指出：

“只要好好利用各种设备上的软件，实际上我们手中数以亿计的iPhone和iPad就能实现增强现实。苹果的ARKit一夜之间就可成为全球最大的增强现实平台。”

其实企业培训应用问世前，员工很早就用上了智能手机；如今也类似，增强现实技术进入企业培训领域刚有苗头，数百万员工已经在个人手机和平板电脑上接触增强现实。随着员工熟悉相关设备，日后企业培训起来也更方便。只要稍微调整下配置，现有的数字现实和机器学习工具完全可以提高安全性，提升生产率并降低成本。

这不就是我们所有人努力实现的梦想吗？（财富中文网）

译者：Pessy

审校：夏林

杰伊·萨米特是德勤旗下数字现实业务的独立副董事长，著有畅销书《颠覆自我》。

By 2020, 25% of the American workforce will be over the age of 55 and approaching retirement, a phenomenon becoming known as the Silver Tsunami. While this could create a shortage of skilled workers in a number of fields including electric utilities, telecommunications, and manufacturing, augmented reality (AR) is poised not only to address issues faced by our aging workforce, but to fundamentality increase productivity by changing how all employees are trained in the future.

In 2016, U.S. companies across industries spent nearly $1,000 in training per employee, largely delivered in traditional formats like classroom-based seminars and classes, and even online training modules that mimic that experience. This kind of learning has suited people’s needs for centuries, particularly when learning was thought of as memorization with many cultures celebrating those who could recite long texts with exceptional rote skills. But as the breadth of human knowledge expanded, learning paradigms have changed with the works of John Dewey and others who recognized that understanding why information is important and how it relates to our world is true learning—and should be the goal.

In the coming years, machine learning and augmented reality will likely take both educational approaches to the next level by empowering workers to have the latest, most accurate information available in context, when and where they need it most.

Here are four ways that digital reality can revolutionize corporate training:

Real-Time Information

Heads-up displays on AR glasses or safety helmets will assist those in the field by being able to recognize equipment and guide workers through step-by-step diagnostics. A maintenance worker could look at a specific make or model of high-voltage equipment on an oil rig and be safely taken through the diagnostic and repair procedure. No need to retrain a workforce when information becomes dated or obsolete. When new equipment is added to a facility, the system will be updated and all field workers will have the most current information. Workers just need to learn how to use the digital reality hardware, and they will be prepared for field work. Less time will be spent in off-site training so productivity increases.

A Virtual Presence for Skilled Workers

See-What-I-See (SWIS) glasses will give the most skilled workers near omnipotence. No organization has a workforce with equally distributed skills and experience. When out-of-the-ordinary problems occur in the field, all-too-often a second team needs to be dispatched, costing the company both time and money. Rather than rolling a second truck with more senior technicians when an unfamiliar problem is discovered, top talent can now work from a central location and literally see what the field service teams are seeing from their augmented glasses. A construction crane operator, for example, could remotely operate cranes at construction sites around the globe. The most experienced workers will be available to transport their skills across time and space—without ever leaving their desks.

Retaining Skills and Knowledge

Augmented reality systems can retain valuable employee learnings and insights. Highly trained skills will no longer leave the company when experienced workers retire. A recent U.S. government report estimates that half of all electrical lineworkers will retire within the decade causing a shortage of manpower that could affect America’s energy grid. Artificial intelligence systems can actually learn and adapt by watching what today’s workers are doing right (and conversely what they are doing wrong) to make the augmented systems smarter and safer. With machine learning built into future systems, all workers can benefit from whatever one worker has discovered. Training systems become evolving tools for increasing productivity and safety.

Learning Experiences via Everyday Devices

Lastly, corporate benefits of augmented reality training aren’t dependent on the next generation of hardware. The new ARKit from Apple turns today’s hardware into powerful AR training tools. As Craig Federighi, head of software at Apple, aptly pointed out at the company's most recent developer conference in June:

When you bring the software together with these devices, we actually have hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads that are going to be capable of AR. That's going to make overnight the ARKit the largest AR platform in the world.

Just as the smartphone was adopted by employees long before corporate training apps were created, millions of workers are engaging with augmented reality on their phones and tablets today. Their familiarity with these devices will make training the worker of tomorrow much easier. Properly configured, today’s digital reality and machine learning tools have the power to improve safety, productivity, and reduce cost.

Isn’t that the reality we are all striving for?

Jay Samit is the independent vice chairman of Deloitte's Digital Reality practice and author of the bestselling book Disrupt You!