Artificial intelligence has become one of the most talked about topics of our time, and not for nothing. Every single one of us can detect the presence of AI in different capacities in our every day lives. From our homes, using Alexa, google home, Siri etc., getting groceries delivered by a drone, or simply being targeted by ads specifically tailored to our interests. Somewhere in the near future, our cars will be able to operate without a driver. The full magnitude of AI and how it can transform our lives is still unknown – and the opportunity are endless.
With the use of technology our day to day life has transformed beyond recognition- helping us to do everything better, faster and with much greater efficiency. Question is- in this fast-paced changing environment, where technology runs everything, how can we make sure to never lose sight of people?
THE CHALLENGE OF PUTTING THE I FIRST
In the movie Moneyball, Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) is confronted by Grady Fuson (played by Ken Medlock) arguing that “Baseball isn’t just numbers. It’s not science. If it was- anybody could do what we do, but they can’t cause they don’t know what we know. They don’t have our experience and they don’t have our intuition.” Grady then ask him “Now there are intangibles that only baseball people understand. You’re discarding what scouts have done for 150 years, even yourself?”. For that Billy simply answers – “Adapt or die”.
This is one of the biggest obstacles when talking about AI and its potential implementations in our society. How do we build a responsible and unbiased “brain” able to factor in not only cold hard fact but also norms, different intangibles and above all – human experience?
In the recent SHRM India conference, Rohit Thakur, head of HR at Accenture, brilliantly named it “a Citizen AI”. Suggesting we should consider Artificial intelligent as an active part of society, acting as an enabler for humanity and changing the conception to adaptation, instead of implementation.
AI transforms our lives in ways no one could have predicted. A recent poll showed that over 75% of CEOs are looking to adopt digital transformation strategies.
When talking about a company’s digital transformation and measuring ROI when investing in AI technologies, one must measure long term, accounting for those unpredicted changes as well. Moreover, the most important thing to remember in that sense is that this ROI measures only what you are using AI for. Decision makers companies should measure the function intent of their strategy and see potential affects to key metrics of the business.
AI AS A DIFFERENTATING FACTOR IN HR
As Grady pointed out in Moneyball, many decisions in business are based on gut, intuition and feeling. Can AI assure us that we are on the right track, making the right decisions? AI screens thousands of resumes, evaluates the best candidates, helps us utilize our own database and provides HR predictions for talent acquisition.
Will AI eliminate our inherent biases, or will it amplify it? Amazon recently scraped their AI recruiting tool that showed bias against women. Other AI tools became racists or behaved unexpectedly. AI holds huge potential for talent acquisition is huge. Increasing efficiency and productivity of HR processes and teams, substantially reducing costs and providing amazing ROI. We should, however, be patient, demand continues auditing of the results and understand that much like any other transformation, process takes time, and when done right- the sky is the limit.
