Will we be managed by machines?
Over the past decade, there’s been a lot of noise in the media and throughout day to day conversation regarding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the job market. But as both become more advanced and more businesses adopt this intelligence into their business models, just how can organisations make the most of it? And how could it impact the day to day processes that affect our working lives? After hosting a roundtable with a series of industry experts, we shared some of the biggest ways that businesses can make the most of AI.
- Embrace the technology
We’ve all read the sensationalised headlines - they claim AI is going to steal all of our jobs and predict that our next manager will be a robot. As AI becomes increasingly more embedded into society, thankfully this dialogue seems to be a lot less prevalent and most business leaders realise that this isn’t the purpose of AI at all. However, for many there is still a long way to go when it comes to changing attitudes – before businesses can fully enjoy the benefits of artificial intelligence, it’s important that a positive attitude is adopted. Good AI enables professionals to concentrate more time and effort in utilizing their skills to work on the truly valuable aspects of their jobs, rather than wasting time on tasks that can be automated. The technology has to be trusted before it can be fully adopted. An attitude of awareness rather than fear is what will allow businesses to thrive. Encouragingly, 62% of our roundtable attendees felt positive about AI in the workplace – while this is a great sign, there’s still more work to be done to fully embrace the potential.
- Understand the scope of the opportunity
AI is essentially a collection of data and algorithms – but the opportunities AI can offer businesses are incredibly diverse. Artificial intelligence unlocks a massive range of options and can impact organizations in completely different ways. If businesses are going to truly embed AI into their processes, it’s important they fully understand the scope of the opportunity and make sure they’re maximizing the tech for their specific business needs. Yes, AI involves basic automation that can take away some of the more menial and manual day to day tasks of an employee, but on the other end of the spectrum, it can offer businesses unparalleled intelligence that could completely re-define decisions and radically pivot the direction of business strategies. It’s only when the technology is truly understood that the benefits can be realized.
- Be inclusive with modeling
When it comes to building AI, it’s so important that tech companies are modelling their intelligence on a diverse group of individuals. Back when the seatbelt was invented by a male engineer, a closed mindset and lack of diverse modeling meant the invention was only created with male adults in mind – leading to casualties for women and children before this problem was fixed. It’s crucial – particularly when dealing with people processes – that those building this tech knowledge ensure full representation of society in order for the technology to be effective and useful for everyone. This is important from both an ethical standpoint and also a practical one. If the technology isn’t created with a diverse group of people in mind, then it’s only going to be effective for a small portion of the population.
Learn more about AI by watching our webinar featuring panelists, Karen Kilroy, CEO of Kilroy Blockchain and Charlie Isaacs, CTO of Customer Connections at Salesforce.
