NAVIGATING THE HUMAN-CENTRIC TRANSITION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF AI-DIGITAL LITERACY AND INDUSTRY 5.0 CAREER-READINESS

Abstract

As the world stands at the onset of fast-paced technological era, the global economy is not merely evolving, it is struggling with a shift that is as much psychological as it is industrial. The move from the cold, rigid automation of Industry 4.0 toward the human-centric paradigm of Industry 5.0 has fractured the traditional 'terms of engagement' for the modern workforce. IR5.0 marks a vital shift from automation to human-machine collaboration like human creativity, resilience and sustainability, on the other hand IR4.0 focused mainly on AI and automation (Nahavandi, 2019; Ivanov, 2023). The 21st century is marked towards sustainable shift towards modernization in the human life. Current modern world demands graduates equipped with technical skills like AI, robotics and IoT. Further, AI-Digital literacy plays key role in teaching and learning in upgrading knowledge via different learning channels. For the reason Educational Revolutions and industrial resolutions taken places according to the needs of society and the world. The world is progressing at an incredible speed due to swift advancement of modern technologies especially in ICT. Since the end of eighteenth century, successive industrial revolutions have fundamentally transformed economic and social systems. At present, the fourth industrial revolution is underway and can be characterized by deep digitalization, the automation of organizational processes, the implementation of advanced information systems, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. On the horizon, a new paradigm Industry 5.0 (IR5.0) is emerging, emphasizing human centered technological integration and cooperation between humans and intelligent machines.

The Industrial Revolution (IR) comprises a prolonged development of societal and economic revolution driven by technological and industrial advancement. From rural, craft-based civilizations to contemporary structures powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), each industrial revolution has delivered notable social developments so far raised concerns about upcoming implications. Human interactions with technology started with early innovations such as fire and primitive tools. Over times, technology has evolved through several key phases, namely from pre-industrial revolution to the different eras of the industrial revolution. These eras of industrial revolution have brought about important changes and influences in how we live and work. They are crucial for improving human quality of life. The journey of Pre-Industrial Era began before 1760 (Ajani, 2024). It was characterized by simple and manual labor with tools like the loom and basic farming equipment.

Consequently, the fast AI and digital expansion explaining the inclusive transformation from IR4.0 to IR5.0 that is reframing career-oriented perspectives, learning methods, and core competencies required for future job readiness. As industries move toward hybrid skills merging technical and soft aptitudes therefore tertiary education systems are under enormous pressure to equip graduates with communicatively and digitally proficient. However, learners in vocational, higher and tertiary education face structural, pedagogical, and socio-economic challenges that hinder their academic performance and career readiness, particularly in high-tech IR 5.0-driven sectors. Although the substantial impact of AI and Digital literacy, there is a major gap still exists between learning aftermaths and workforce demands (Wang et al., 2023). Various organizations persist to give emphasis to traditional teaching methods that focusing on theoretical understanding instead of practical and technical applications.

Different institutions have continued to focus on traditional methods of teachings which are mainly focusing theoretical understanding rather than practical AI-driven applications in the academia. As a result, learners often lack job ready skills needed in current AI-Digital workplace settings. Therefore, academia today continuously compete through innovation in order to gain and sustain future competitive advantages of learners in evolving IR5.0 career-readiness environment. Thus, there is a need for a more comprehensive framework that integrates AI-digital literacy into IR5.0 career readiness paradigm.