Is AI really an enemy of the workplace?

 2017-06-09

With artificial intelligence really booming around various industries in the job market, the sense of replacing workers for robots is becoming a growing concern. Organizations are now realizing the benefits of integrating AI into the everyday workplace, but the challenge of shifting employees into more productive roles remains a challenge.

It is believed that 73 percent of Americans are uncertain about their future due to AI taking over more repetitive and administrative tasks, according to a recent poll from Pew Research. The positive aspect of all this is that AI is becoming more of a value addition to organizations, instead of a reason to replace humans altogether. With AI taking over more of the minor tasks, employers are expected to be looking for more critical thinking from their human workforce to do the things that AI just cannot do.

This can alternatively become a reason for employees to seek further training, educational opportunities and increase their value while achieving true work-life balance.

AI in Action – work smart not hard

Being able to play the role of digital assistants, completing repetitive tasks quickly and efficiently, along with freeing up daily schedules for the more important work, AI is gradually proving its long-sought benefit in the workplace.

This is giving employees a reason to seek out work requiring brain power, while living the dream of working on a flexible schedule. 77 percent of millennials believe that a flexible work schedule is the key for their professional and personal happiness, according to a Bentley University study. AI powered workplaces are the answer to finally making that happen and ultimately allowing organizations to retain top talent, along with offering more competitive incentives.

With a workforce allowed to work on flexible schedules and possibly even more out of the traditional office setting, the fear of losing out on opportunities to AI will eventually subside. This could open up the doors to a new era of global working.

Determining the actual ROI of AI in the office

Theoretically, AI has always been seen as technology which would be used in a high-end office space requiring only the latest advancements, but rather, it’s become a compliment to any company.

From increasing manufacturing efficiency to helping human resource personnel to focus on getting to know their candidates instead of spending time on paper work is what AI is really capable of. AI can adapt to needs and requirements across departments and is not limited to a specific job description.

The only hinderance in AI working to its fullest capacity is the sort of data and data sources are fed into the system. AI isn’t a miracle technology. It still requires human input to analyze and interpret. Continuously being fed quality data is the only way AI will be able to constantly come out with better and improved resulted every single time.

When employees no longer need to perform clerical, time-consuming tasks, a world of opportunities opens up for them. Their energy isn’t drained as much and it’s conserved for more impactful tasks which would end up benefitting any business monumentally.