The mention of the words Artificial Intelligence evokes mixed reactions depending on who you ask. While AI, like big data, Machine Learning and IoT are new inventions, the excitement or apprehension associated with it is worth discussing; more so how AI will influence workplace dynamics sooner than we expect.
In 2017, Amazon sold millions of AI-powered speakers- Amazon Echos. This year, the figure is probably higher, and the trend will continue unabated with no end in sight. Facebook Messenger has 100,000 chatbots used by digital marketing companies to reach the giant tech firm’s 2.27B monthly active users worldwide (Statista).
Now, apart from your home entertainment and social life, AI is set to make a majestic entry into your workplace and everything will change. Now, this news has been received with much skepticism with most of the worries being massive layoffs that will follow.
On the contrary, a report by Gartner indicates that while 1.8 million jobs will be lost as AI makes its grand entry into HR, over 2.3 million jobs will be created on its wake by 2022.
According to the report, not all sectors will be drastically affected by AI. Industries that will be hit hardest are manufacturing while education and healthcare will still enjoy human workforce.
1] How AI will change HR structures
AI programming has gained entry in companies like Apple and Twitter where it is fully in charge of the traditional functions of recruitment, hiring and training of employees.
In fact, the companies no longer read résumés but Textio-an AI-powered application chooses the best-suited candidates based on researching similar job postings and the kind of candidates they attracted.
You shouldn’t be surprised either when you finally find out that the ‘person’ who interviewed you was an AI-powered robot. Currently, there is Montage Talent used in interviews and Talla for employee on-boarding programs.
2] How prepared are companies to embrace AI?
While the integration of AI may have left a sour taste in the mouths of employees, 33% of companies are already remodeling their HR departments to accommodate AI-powered workforce (Deloitte).
With Silicon Valley already buzzing with activity, and tech giants acquiring promising AI start-ups, employers will soon have a wide variety of AI vendors to employ!
The choice of an employee over the other will depend on the skill-set rather than years of experience and seniority. Likewise, AI is set to make redundant roles like HR admin as it could manage the query handling, sending mails and compiling reports for presentations.
The new roles that are likely to be created are among others, employee experience manager and Artificial Intelligence trainer.
3] Competition for excellence
Employers are equally puzzled at the thought of striking a working relationship between the human and the AI workforce. To master this, chances are high it will be more of a phased approach as opposed to software installation and Voila!
Experts believe AI will eliminate the boring and arduous tasks from HR to enable HR professionals to focus on more important aspects of business like strategy and innovation.
For example, AI will make it possible to analyze 300 CVs in minutes to select the top 10 best-suited candidates for an advertised position.
Therefore, it will be more of inter-dependence between humans and AI than AI taking over entirely.
Conclusion
The introduction of AI into the workplace will result in massive job cuts but also generate new positions to augment the AI technology.
Humans will obviously remain to control and manage the productivity of AI-powered robots. Going by the stats, AI integration presents a win-win situation for both employees and employers.
