Is Artificial Intelligence making us redundant in the workplace?

Artificial intelligence (AI) presents many opportunities, but it is also disrupting the jobs market. Companies are increasingly turning to AI to improve efficiency and productivity, and this shift towards automation is causing concern about job displacement and its impact on the workforce.

One of the main concerns about AI replacing human employees is the notion that AI is making us all less qualified. While AI can perform many tasks faster and more accurately than humans, there are unique skills and qualities that humans possess that AI cannot replace, for now. For example, emotional intelligence, creativity, and critical thinking are some of the human qualities that are difficult to replicate in machines. As such, it is essential to consider how to develop and leverage these uniquely human qualities alongside AI to create a more effective and productive workforce.

IBM's CEO has stated that the company plans to replace around 30% of its back-end roles with AI over the next five years, underscoring the increasing trend of AI taking over jobs traditionally done by humans. It was mentioned that roles in human resources and non-customer-facing jobs will be impacted. While the move towards AI automation is driven by the potential for greater efficiency and productivity, it also raises concerns about job displacement and the impact on the workforce.

In the food industry, AI is being used to improve efficiency and productivity, but it cannot replace the creativity and customer service skills of human employees. McDonald's has tested and recently implemented automated drive-thru ordering through touch screens or voice recognition technology, but they still require human employees for other functions.

Some companies are replacing human employees with AI in certain roles to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The use of a robotic process automation (RPA) system has allowed for the automation of routine accounting tasks in various finance department jobs, including those in financial trading.

While it may seem that AI is taking over jobs and making human workers obsolete, it is important to note that AI is also creating new opportunities and transforming existing jobs. The widespread use of AI is creating new jobs in areas such as data science, AI programming, and machine learning, which require a different set of skills and expertise.

However, the transition toward AI automation is not without its challenges. The displacement of human workers by AI can lead to significant job loss and economic dislocation, particularly for workers in industries that are highly susceptible to automation. As such, it is essential to implement corrective actions to re-skill and retrain human employees to take on new roles that cannot be automated.

In this context, businesses have an ethical responsibility to ensure that AI is used in a way that is beneficial to society and promotes the well-being of workers. Ethical considerations such as data privacy, fairness, and transparency must be taken into account in the development and deployment of AI systems.

Take Amazon for example. It has faced criticism for its use of AI in hiring, which was found to be biased against women. The system was trained on resumes submitted to the company over the past 10 years, which were predominantly from men, and as a result, the system learned to favor male candidates over female candidates.

AI is already disrupting the jobs market, and the trend toward AI automation is set to continue. While there are concerns that AI makes us all less qualified, it is important to consider how to develop and leverage the unique qualities that humans possess alongside AI to create a more effective and productive workforce. Actions such as re-skilling and retraining human employees must be implemented to mitigate the impact of AI on the workforce. Furthermore, ethical considerations must be taken into account to ensure that AI is used in a way that is beneficial to society.