No matter our feelings about artificial intelligence at work, we cannot deny its transformative power. Today’s ratio of humans and machines is around 70:30, with artificial intelligence automating processes, mostly routine or predictive.
Do we invest in new products that could be a game-changer for our company? Should we focus on an existing product with a strong position in the local market but with little chance of success internationally?
To discuss the plan, the executive team of a company gathers. Participants include the CEO, CFO, and sales director.
That sounds great!
AI Analyzes Data, But Humans Make The Calls
Artificial intelligence (AI), which constantly interweaves our everyday lives, often blends in the background. AI offers tremendous potential in heavy industry, healthcare and social services, and consumer markets. Enrolling in a course on artificial intelligence will make understanding AI not as challenging.
Here are the common examples of AI – Smartwatches already track the quality of our sleep and provide personalized workout advice. Facebook’s Newsfeed features advertisements for running shoes. GPS alerts drivers about construction zones. Intelligent systems handle accounting and bookkeeping, and doctors use AI to diagnose.
AI should not replace our jobs but concentrate on what we do best. A salesperson might use an AI system to determine which customer they should meet before getting in their car. They could create an effective sales strategy while driving based on the AI data about the customer’s past order history, business development, and decision-making style.
AI Improves Human Decision-Making
AI can help us ask better questions, identify our assumptions and values, and assist us in making informed decisions. We should push for faster AI development and challenge ourselves to engage more broadly and bolder debates. It is essential that we openly discuss our understanding of the process behind decision-making, and AI can also challenge us in this area.
A superficial and hasty discussion can lead to automated decision-making, which increases the chance that AI will be perceived as a black box that spits numbers. The reasoning and fundamental mechanisms behind AI-driven decisions might remain obscure at best, but human decision-making based on complex calculations from spreadsheets could be subject to similar transparency issues.
Responsible People Must Accept Responsibility
The analysis of consumer data is one area where AI can be helpful. Learning algorithms can quickly organize and identify connections between data to detect who bought what and where. They can also spot weak signals that might go unnoticed, particularly in the fast-paced business world.
AI can produce massive amounts of data, but, at its best, it will also inform the factory’s production manager if an order with a due date is a concern. Are the staff’s health and well-being sufficient to allow the factory to meet large orders on time?
The production manager can focus on solving AI-related problems rather than reading reports, which will save time and help employees feel more productive. A proactive response is possible by early detection of potential risks and opportunities.
However, the individual decides to respond to AI signals. Humans have the responsibility to uphold ethical standards, and we will be held responsible for the consequences of all our actions and for our decision to investigate AI-related risks.
Reboot Your Leadership Style
This naturally raises several questions for the second primary source of corporate power: the leadership group. If decision-making and strategy are automated, distributed, and facilitated elsewhere in the organization, what should the company’s leaders be doing?
In a recent Infosys study of C-level executives, 37 percent of respondents agreed that the adoption of AI could mean more time spent on the strategy. Eighty percent of respondents were confident that their executive team could adapt their leadership capabilities as AI technologies become more widely used; however, 75 percent of respondents indicated that they believed some formal training was required.
But, there’s the issue of acceptance in society to tackle. The primary goal of AI is to increase quality and efficiency and eventually substitute human intellect. With 69 percent of survey respondents stating that employees at work are worried that AI technologies could replace them, there’s no reason to expect this perceived danger to be less prevalent within the C-suite. Can this deter some senior managers from embracing AI and giving up control?
It’s true that AI fundamentally alters how you make your decisions and how leaders are positioned within an organization. However, it doesn’t take over if the leader has a fine sense of understanding where exactly to depend on AI and where not. If you want to be such a leader, you should pursue a course in AI for leaders.
Algorithms Reflect Human Emotions and Values
We may try to put our emotions aside to present a convincing argument. If we cannot decide between two options, our feelings can be seen as unreliable and vague. On the other hand, logic prevents us from being affected by emotion’s unpredictable tides.
Emotion and intuition play an essential role in the workplace. Many salespeople, executives, and recruiters confess to relying on their intuition at times. We should discuss the values and reasons behind our decisions, regardless of whether we discuss AI-based information or human reasoning.
What will AI do for employment?
The history of employment shows that even with technological change, it continues to grow. The transformation happens in the automated or reorganized areas, and workers will need to learn new skills to perform these tasks.
There will be new jobs: “Trainers” will need to teach AI systems how they work, while another group of “explainers” will be required to explain how these intelligent devices arrived at their decision. There may be a shortage of well-qualified professionals in certain areas, and the emergence of AI systems will further highlight the need for cybersecurity professionals.
How can business leaders adapt to the new AI landscape for their businesses?
CEOs and senior managers must be educated about AI to distinguish reality from hype and develop a strategy for using AI within their company. Leadership will change in many ways. Leaders will have to embrace the “softer” aspects of leadership, such as encouraging employees to work together. They will need to collaborate between their workers, the AI systems, and other leaders.
Conclusion
AI can help leaders create bolder visions and make better decisions. Managers may use weak signal detection algorithms to identify risks and help with decision-making. Humans are ultimately responsible for our actions and decisions, and emotions also play an essential part.
References
