#BTColumn – A partner not a threat

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Nicholas Roberts

Picture it – in my best Sophia Petrillo from Golden Girl’s voice – the year is 2119 and robots have taken over the world. Humans are their indentured servants, bending to their will, as we naïvely created robots to be our equals as sentient beings. However, before I go any further, let me pause right there. This kind of sounds like a scene from Will Smith’s 2004 blockbuster movie ‘I, Robot’, doesn’t it?

I know the way in which I started this article may come across as kind of humorous and light-hearted, but in reality, it’s the way in which many people think the direction the world and technology are heading.

A few weeks ago as part of my workplace’s Diversity and Inclusion programme – ‘Bring your child to work day’, one of the themes coincidentally enough for the day was AI, a topic I was aware weeks prior I had to write an article about.

As part of the day’s agenda, two colleagues and I were tasked with each supervising three of our co-worker’s kids (ages 7 – 10) and assisting them with research based on different subtopics of AI.

Interestingly enough, one kid about aged 8 or so whilst presenting on his topic emphatically stated that he believed robots would eventually take over the world from humans. From the mouth of babes they say. With that alone, the
wheels in my head started to turn even further about how I wanted to broach this topic.

AI and HR

Artificial Intelligence (AI) as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is the theory and development of computer systems. Systems that are able to perform tasks which normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.

Tangible, real world examples of AI presently being used are digital assistants, chatbots and machine learning.

In layman’s terms, the definition above simply means that computers have been programmed to perform tasks similar to – if not better than, in some instances – that a human would normally or naturally do. For example, as a quick point of reference, look down at your smart phone. This little device has disrupted jobs and industries such as human personal assistants and photographers – just to name a few.

As HR practitioners who are cognizant of the changes in the global, regional and local economy, we should be positioning ourselves as strategic business partners.

We need to be sitting in the boardrooms advising the C-suite and leaders of our respective organizations about the ways AI will impact our workforce and the business. This can be done in a few ways, but I’ll focus on two major areas:

1. Conduct an analysis to create an AI strategic plan

The intent in conducting a strategic evaluation of this type is to a scan the business to ascertain the present and impending technological developments and competitive pressures within your environment (a PESTLE analysis would be a good place to start).

The analysis should also help you to identify how quickly varying push and pull factors will impact the business, providing you with the necessary information on how to respond and how HR can support the business in its response.

Coming out of your analysis and through formulating a plan, you can identify the operational pain points that automation could create and how AI technology and techniques could contribute to and/or address any disruptive opportunities
created by AI.

Global studies conducted have shown that AI has the ability to disrupt your business in 5 years – 25 years’ time. As a result of this, your plan should be a live document, which is continually being updated to match both the needs of the business and the changes in technology.

Above all, your AI strategic plan should support and complement your HR strategic plan; which should in turn tie into the overarching Business strategic plan.

2. Inculcate the right talent and technology

In HR we often talk about building and sustaining the right type of culture and behaviours, in order for the business to thrive and succeed. In the same vein, it is crucial with the continuous advancements of AI, that we create an amalgamated workforce – people and technology working synergistically.

This is the type of workforce where humans and AI work collaboratively to execute the daily processes and functions of the business. To this end, people within the workforce will therefore be responsible for overseeing the AI and ensuring that the application of technology is executed not only in a safe way but in a strategic way.

We as the people will therefore be progressively pulled away from performing repetitive tasks, to therefore moving into a more strategic capacity with regards to how we think and how we execute for the business.

Nevertheless, when the time comes to move towards a more strategy and management centric workforce, we all know what that means – some jobs will become obsolete and non-existent.

World Economic Forum has reported that AI and automation will displace 75 million jobs but generate 133 million new ones worldwide by 2022. McKinsey Global Institute further states that worldwide, with sufficient economic growth, innovation, and investment, there can be enough new job creation to offset the impact of automation. Barbados, the world has exited the industrial age, I am imploring us to catch up and step into the technological age with it.

People vs. AI

As part of the ‘Bring your child to work day’, mentioned earlier, I attended a panel discussion. One panelist mentioned that many of the jobs we are training our children in today will become obsolete in 2030. To further cement this point, reference was made to government’s retrenchment of stenographers and typists as part of the BERT program, as these jobs have long become redundant in many global job economies.

Accordingly, if we do not begin to train our excitant school goers and leavers in jobs of the future, we run the risk of the same happening to them in the years to come, as a result of the advent of AI and technology.

From a Human Resources perspective, we should ask ourselves a few questions. The most important ones are what does this mean for our workforce (ourselves as HR practitioners included) and how do we handle the impeding changes.

For many years there has been much national discourse about how the education system in Barbados requires a complete overhaul. As someone who has been through the system both at a secondary and tertiary level not too long ago, I definitely think that if we don’t act swiftly, our generations to come will be at a massive disadvantage by being edified for jobs that are predicted to become obsolete.

Some areas to possibly look into integrating within the school curriculum are robotics, advanced computer programming, nanotechnology and augmented reality.

Those whose skillsets are more geared towards the vocational areas should also be focused on as well, as AI and robots will also heavily impact manual and blue-collar jobs. There is hope for us yet though, as all jobs may not actually be automated for a variety of economic, legal and regulatory reasons.

All in all, AI should not be feared and seen as a threat but embraced, as the technology created can only be as intelligent as we create it to be. AI and technology on a whole, are aimed at making our lives and jobs easier. Change, specifically technological change is constant – embrace it.

Nicholas Roberts, SHRM-CP, is MembershipCommittee Head, Human Resources Management Association of Barbados.