Conversations about artificial intelligence tend to dwell on fears that AI will replace people. But successful leaders will harness the unique capabilities of humans and machines and create human-centric cultures where AI amplifies employee capabilities.
For decades, writers and filmmakers have imagined dystopian futures where AI displaces and tries to destroy humanity. So, it’s understandable that people are apprehensive about generative AI’s foray into the workplace. It’s important to acknowledge AI’s transformative effect on workplaces, industries, economies and everyday life in ways we’re just starting to envision.
Even before ChatGPT came on the scene, researchers projected AI would displace 85 million jobs by 2025, but that same study also predicted 97 million new jobs will be created. Organizations that embrace and develop AI, provide incentives for employees to use it and create a human-centric culture where AI helps employees succeed at work will win the future.
As CTO of a team that recently launched a successful AI product for the global employer of record market, I’m optimistic — not only about the value of the technology but also for the employees whose knowledge and expertise AI will augment. Here’s a closer look at how employees and AI complement each other’s strengths and can work together to create business value within a human-centric company culture.
AI Should Augment Human Capabilities Rather Than Replace People
To address the elephant in the room, AI won’t replace human knowledge workers. It requires our insight into what’s happening in the real world to grow and learn to accomplish new tasks. According to some studies, approximately 90% of content online is predicted to be AI generated by 2026, i.e., synthetic data. In some scenarios, synthetic data is useful for training specific models. In fact, a 2021 leveraging synthetic data to refine AI-powered fraud detection tools.
But past a certain point, synthetic data can corrupt large language models due to LLMs depending on unique, creative insight related to real-life events, systems and trends to produce reliable answers. Models like ChatGPT may curate and repurpose existing content, but they also rely on human knowledge and creative thinking that transcends linear reasoning. For example, if companies are trying to hire, recruit and pay international talent, turn to AI for the latest HR best practices, which often change in response to new legislation and emerging trends, they’d need to use an AI model that incorporates human expertise to ensure accurate answers.
Some of the most exciting applications of generative AI are solutions that combine proprietary business expertise with LLM platforms to create a generative AI chat interface. This type of knowledge base can expedite delivery of information to internal and external customers and become a more valuable business asset over time as it learns and improves. But that’s only the case if company leaders think of employees not just as people who help administer the technology but as partners in a sociotechnical system, where people and AI work together, each making contributions to generate value.
Redefining Employee Roles in AI-Powered Industries
The best way to create a system where interactions between humans and technology create value is to build AI solutions in collaboration with employees, not as a separate project to replace them. This is especially important in industries that offer expertise and knowledge as their primary product.
A productive AI-human partnership will require new ways of thinking about how to deliver knowledge to customers. For example, in some jobs, employees apply expertise by responding to emails, submitting helpdesk tickets or collaborating with customers on phone calls. A new role for those employees might be analyzing emerging trends, writing content and training models, bringing the same expertise to solve customer problems in a novel way.
To develop AI solutions that augment employee expertise and knowledge, technology leaders will first need unfettered access to company data — including information that might be difficult to reach due to the use of legacy systems. They’ll also require AI-specific talent to help build out the solution, a blend of expertise from the software engineering and data science disciplines. That’s a commodity already in short supply, so finding people with the right skills should be a priority for an AI project.
Equally as important, building AI solutions will require incentives across the workforce to fine-tune the generative AI solution after launch. As the model ingests more and more information, it learns and becomes more adept at solving problems. Employers who bring more people into the conversation with AI will create additional value by providing multiple perspectives. So, if a customer has a question, the AI chat interface can provide an initial answer that can later be refined by human partners to create a solution that includes well thought-out strategies.
Building a Human-Centric Culture
So how can companies create a generative loop where humans and AI work together to constantly improve output? My AI project team created a chat interface that automates some of the mundane and time-consuming aspects of our knowledge workers’ jobs, and this has proved to be a powerful motivator for employees to keep engaging with the system. It frees staff from tedious tasks and gives them more time to focus on higher level work. That benefit answers the “what’s in it for me?” question that employees naturally ask themselves.
Other real-world examples of ROI from our AI project include employees getting instant answers to questions, when before they used to have to wait hours or days for a subject matter expert to weigh in so they could resolve an issue for a client. Another internal user called the chat interface a gamechanger because it can instantly access data across multiple systems that a person would have to laboriously assemble by consulting several different applications and datasets.
If you can create an architecture that seamlessly accesses data companywide and put together an innovation team that’s encouraged to experiment and explore new possibilities with emerging AI technology, you can build a solution that adds value immediately. And if you operate within an environment where people are adaptable and motivated to access AI to fulfill your company’s mission, you can leverage that human-centric culture to transform the business.
Every business will adapt in its own unique way, but being transparent about how AI will affect roles, encouraging employees to embrace change and instituting a more collaborative approach are essential across the board. Ready or not, generative AI will continue to transform the way companies operate, and an AI-driven business transformation, that leverages human capital, can offer exciting opportunities for businesses to serve customers better and gain a competitive edge.
Duri Chitayat is CTO of Safeguard Global
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