Meta: Fears about artificial intelligence (AI) abound. Learn how to reassure your workforce and prepare them for an automated future—starting today.
Robots taking over the world, computers seeking to annihilate the chaos of the human race—doomsday fears centered on artificial intelligence (AI) are often outlandish. But many workers have a much more relevant AI concern—“Will AI eventually take my job?”
AI has accomplished amazing feats in recent years, affecting almost every industry. Still, the human element is necessary to business and it always will be. Below, we’ll consider how you can reassure your workforce, develop AI skills for their resumes, and help them upskill for evolving roles.
Reassure Them
AI chatbots can answer customer service inquiries. Text-to-image generators can create works of art. Robots do the heavy lifting in factories. AI-powered cameras allow customers to check out purchases simply by leaving the store with them. Drones and other robots are even used for military operations and search-and-rescue missions. Some people worry, therefore, that AI will eventually replace them in their jobs.
However, there are several reasons why AI will not replace humans in the workforce.
- AI requires prompts. Without a human to think up a prompt and input it, AI can’t do anything.
- AI requires fact-checking. AI systems have been known to “hallucinate” false information. They must also be monitored for bias, especially if fed generalized information from the internet.
- AI can’t handle every request. When faced with complex customer service issues, for example, chatbots must refer users to a human customer service agent.
- AI is not emotionally intelligent or innovative. While research is still being done in the field of affective computing, AI is not good at reading human emotions and responding accordingly. It also cannot “think” beyond its programmed parameters and the information it’s been trained on when innovative, “outside the box” solutions are needed.
If you suspect that members of your team harbor such fears, reassure them that it is natural for roles to change over time. Let them know that you’re committed to providing ongoing training so that they remain a competent member of your team. We’ll consider this more in the next section.
Retrain Them
Continuing education is an integral part of every successful career. You can offer your employees workshops, conference and seminar attendance, or online courses to help them stay up-to-date with the emerging technologies used by your department.
For example, if you’re a factory manager integrating more automation into your processes, you will need technicians who are proficient at maintaining and troubleshooting the robotic elements. You could invest in training and certifying your current equipment technicians to take on this expanded role.
Sometimes, the adoption of automated technologies results in the need to downsize certain departments. The right training can enable you to reassign them to other roles, as discussed below.
Reassign Them
You can also bolster employee confidence and satisfaction by actively working to hire internally—both through promotions and lateral opportunities. For example, imagine you’re reducing your number of customer service agents by half after adopting a customer service chatbot. You could train the affected employees to take on roles in other departments, or even to manage the technical aspects of the technology itself.
This is beneficial for your company because it streamlines the hiring and onboarding process, saving time and money. Current employees will require less onboarding because they already understand the company culture and procedures.
It benefits your employees to observe these internal hiring practices. You’ll have less turnover, as they feel secure in their jobs.
Embrace the Change
The attitude of management and leadership will have a lot to do with how well your workforce adapts to changes and increased automation. If leaders take a pessimistic attitude, so will their teams. If they display resilience, however, their teams may strive to be more flexible and agile as well.
Some organizations make the mistake of putting off the adoption of new technologies as long as possible. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), for example, “uses hundreds of applications, software, and hardware systems that are outdated—25 years or older, or written in a programming language that is no longer used.” This reduces efficiency and, when they decide to adopt newer technologies, it will be costly, time-consuming, and training-intensive.
A better option is the gradual adoption of technological advances. Replace computer hardware at least every eight years; by the time a computer is ten to twelve years old, it is likely no longer supported by contemporary operating systems.
Take the lead by learning to use new programs and automation yourself. Consider conducting workshops with your team, or endorsing the training programs you used to gain knowledge.
Key Takeaways
Change can be scary, and AI has been responsible for major changes and industry shakeups. Your employees are not immune to these fears. When you reassure them that their contributions are needed, help them upskill to keep pace with technology, and promote and hire internally, you will prepare them as individuals and your company at large to embrace the AI age.