Opening Insights
Technology has already made huge inroads into sectors such as manufacturing. Companies in this industry, along with retail and transport firms, are the most likely to be keeping an eye on where advances in technology might take them. But many in other sectors have yet to escalate this to the very top of their watch-lists.
The problem, says Geoff Colvin, author of Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will, is confusion at board level around what kind of impact futuristic capabilities will actually have on them. “I think most boards are not considering this sufficiently because it may seem too abstract a problem to them right now,” he says. “They know it’s possible but haven’t seen it affect their business.” Not yet, at any rate.
“What you see now is a distance between what the economists are saying and what organisations are currently experiencing or expect to experience,” agrees Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice at London Business School. “Beyond the obvious, people struggle to answer the question of ‘where do you see big job losses in terms of automation?’ We know from economists that jobs are going, but we’re not actually seeing it.”
The picture Gratton paints is one not just of failure to keep up to speed with emerging technologies, but to consider what this will mean for the human element of business. 1
Informational Insights
In 2013 a study by Michael Osborne and Carl Frey from Oxford University’s Martin School identified 720 occupations that were at-risk due to automation, based on nine key skills. The study found that Human Resource (HR) administrative jobs had a 90% chance of being automated by 2035, but HR managers, directors and officers were far less likely to be replaced by robots in the next 20 years.2
I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.
-Alan TuringObsborne and Frey’s study seems to be becoming a reality… but at what cost?
What do people envision for Human Resources in the near future:
“Where employees have questions, there could be a virtual agent or chatbot facility that could answer those. Currently, we pick up the phone and ask HR, but in the future, we will only pick up the phone or email for more complicated questions, because there is always a need to decide where digital and humanity meet. But for simpler questions I could quite easily see AI replacing calls and static content like internal web pages,” says Rob Harding, chief information officer at Capital One (Europe).
Robert Bolton, head of KPMG’s global HR centre of excellence, says software is being developed that can be taught to deal with those enquiries that shared service centers deal with at present – such as how much annual leave someone has left or what the firm’s policy on sabbaticals is – and can offer a response.
“The AI technology is so sophisticated that it can even understand sentiment, recognising when the caller is getting frustrated and then referring the conversation to a human. It can then listen to the response and update its own learning to better deal with the problem in the future,” he explains.
Sarah Burnett, an analyst at Everest Group, also suggests that there could be a combination of both speech recognition and human interaction, whereby AI could monitor the questions that are being asked and prompt the human to answer with the best possible response, which takes into account all previous interactions for that kind of scenario. 2
Possibilities for Consideration
So, what is the problem?
As automation takes over and continues to replace the human element with functionality and “optimization,” we are and will continue to eliminate the creative and collaborative aspects of human interaction and relatedness, while simultaneously creating an environment where one is condition to TRUST TECHNOLOGY, rather than the company or people within the company. Thus, people within companies will become more divided and more disconnected from themselves and others.
The realities of the cost of these upcoming and developing AI’s will continue to become clear as time goes by, however, the question is how much humanity and dignity do we need to lose within our organizations, industries and lives before we acknowledge the time bomb we are creating and perpetuating. As we continue our cultural obsession in the technological “evolution” as Gratton stated in the quote above, it may be time to stop the panic to keep up with emerging technologies, and start to consider what our decisions and applications will mean for the human element of business.2
The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
– B.F. Skinner
Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.
– Steve Jobs
We need to develop Human Resource systems and processes where trust is created and nurtured, where people are empowered to communicate, collaborate and create.
The human spirit must prevail over technology.
– Albert Einstein
Sources and References
Take a moment and examine…
- As you reviewed the material above, what stood out to you?
- What is the potential impact, economically and/or socially?
- What action is needed to stop or support this idea?
- You may want to consider whether you:
- want to be aware of,
- should become supportive of,
- would want to be active in this topic?
Add Your Insight
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough; we must do.
LEONARDO DA VINCI