AI Gives Back Our Productivity, Time and Empathy

Will AI replace people and or the human touch? Today, let's discuss how AI will give us back productivity, time and empathy. Embrace power of the Super Team = Humans + AI.

The biggest myth about AI is that it will make people obsolete. The real relationship between AI and humans paints an entirely different picture. This new technology’s implications are still being revealed, but we still have reliable data to show that AI isn’t the human worker’s end.

Change is a scary thing, especially when it comes to work. The feeling of being unnecessary anymore is one we all face day-to-day. But AI is here to help us do our jobs better, not take our job away. While all jobs will change as new technologies emerge, few jobs will actually disappear. What’s really changing is how we do work and how our work gets done. Within the education, healthcare, and public sector, AI has created more jobs than it has eliminated.

These new jobs come in the form of supporting AI. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the field of computer and information research to grow by about 19% between 2016 and 2026, much faster than the growth expected for all other jobs thanks to the demand for people who can develop AI technology. But also, there’s now an ever-growing demand for soft skills.

AI is a whiz at hard skills, but AI can not replicate the soft skills humans have. People will probably always have the upper hand in communicating, team building, collaborating, critical thinking, and creating. Jobs like Creative Directors, Human Resource Managers, UX/UI Specialists, and Sales Managers can’t be replaced by AI.

LinkedIn’s Former CEO Jeff Weiner says, “As powerful as AI will ultimately become and is becoming, we're still a ways away from computers being able to replicate and replace human interaction and human touch. So there's a wonderful incentive for people to develop these skills because those jobs will be more stable for a longer period of time. We're also capable of closing these gaps now, today.”

So we may have to learn these soft skills to adapt to the addition of AI to our work, but we won’t have to adjust to using AI. AI’s simplicity for us to use means we don’t have to learn an entirely new set of skills. We use computers and mobile devices on a daily basis. That knowledge is already there. AI’s natural language processing makes it simple to interact with. So that means that incorporating AI will be less disruptive to our lives than we assume.

And AI, in turn, will help us make our work more human. 93% of employees are ready to embrace AI at work. These workers understand that by freeing up time to be more empathetic, creative, and engaging has a significant impact on happiness and morale. This shift in workplace culture leads to a more customer-centric approach. The customer experience is top of mind for many companies, as it has a direct correlation with growth. Companies that excel at customer experience see revenue growth 4-8% above competitors in their industries.

Not only will AI drive customer satisfaction, but it will improve employee satisfaction. As a result, work will be more rewarding for people. With less stress will come decreased turnover. The cost of turnover for companies is too high in this competitive labor market. Now the opportunity of using AI is in the hands of HR to learn how to understand and improve the work experience. To make work easier and workers more productive.

So AI will not replace us, but it will automate certain skills in jobs. Just like email took away the need for someone to deliver interoffice mail, AI will reduce the need for telemarketers and proofreaders. The future of AI in the workplace is something to get excited about because not only will our quality of work improve, but our quality of life will improve. The chance to reinstate meaningful and impactful work is at the doorstep for recruiters. Embracing AI internally, allowing it to sweep away the mundane, will result in empowering employees to do their very best, and use their gifts to the maximum potential. Let's push what is humanly possible. Start your next conversation with Humanly and book time with me.

[Original full article, published on 10/31/2020]