Boosting the workforce with artificial intelligence

“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we'll augment our intelligence.” —Ginni Romette

We live in interesting times. Today, we have driverless cars, drones delivering medical supplies to rural areas and chatbots screening candidates for job opportunities. The fourth industrial revolution is already here. But as with any technological advance, the story is more complicated than simple displacement.

And, it does not come without a lot of fear about a large workforce losing its jobs and means of making a living.

Understandably, there is no shortage of angst when it comes to the impact of tech on jobs. However, technology including AI (Artificial Intelligence), Big Data and Machine Learning will only replace tasks, not jobs.

There is no question some jobs will be lost. But others will be created, and still, others will morph into something different.

Today, there are a huge number of technology jobs that did not exist 10 years ago: State-of-the-art programming, data science, web security, just to mention but a few. There is enough reason to believe that the need for people to create and manage new technology will progressively increase.

In the pursuit of sustainable growth, the HR professionals must champion the gradual shift to technology-enabled services that need less human intervention. On the other hand, they must oversee the emotionally excruciating lay-off processes.

They are exposed to the dichotomy of balancing technology adoption vs. Workforce management.

Companies of the future are doing a much better job at utilising technology to fully understand their people, their skills and goals, and how all of that aligns with the institution’s strategy, objectives, and aspirations. It’s the perfect partnership of both human and tech capabilities.

Technology will continue to be integral to all business functions, and HR must embrace technology to continually redefine their services toward driving productivity.

The writer is head of human resources at DTB.