4 Reasons Why Automation Will Never Replace People

Introduction

An Accenture study [1] revealed that ‘future ready’ organizations are 5.8% more profitable and 18.8% more efficient than those less ready. Future ready organizations automate at scale, leverage diverse data for decision making, and augment their human workforce with technology.

So, there is a great deal of excitement about what machines and algorithms can do. But we often forget the skill, power, creativity and beauty of a human being (i.e., the cognitive, creative and emotional intelligence that only a human being possesses).

These are innate qualities that make us ‘human’ and these skills are in more demand than ever.

A McKinsey study [3] revealed that demand for ‘cognitive, social, emotional and technological skills’ would increase in the next decade compared to the demand for basic cognitive or physical skills.

There are 4 reasons why humans will never be replaced but they can be augmented by exceptional cognitive conversational business platform technology:

1. Human creativity and ingenuity cannot be replicated by a machine. Will Smith’s character Del Spooner, in the 2004 science fiction movie I-robot, asked, ‘Can a robot write a symphony, or create a beautiful masterpiece like Leonardo Da Vinci?’. Will Smith’s character said ‘Machines don’t dream. Even dogs have dreams, but not you. You are just an imitation of life.’. Only human beings dream the future they wish to create (e.g., build the Metaverse and everything that goes into it).

?Machines are fed data from the past (e.g., images or data from events that have happened). A machine then uses this data to predict outcomes or make suggestions based on the limited data set they have been trained upon (e.g., the likelihood of an insurance policy renewal). Algorithms cannot imagine the future or create a unique masterpiece in the way that only a human can. Comically Sonny, the robot star of I-Robot, when asked if a robot could produce a masterpiece asked Will Smith if every single human could too.

"Digital automation needs more pragmatic evangelists who educate the art of the possible and limitation rather than stoking irrational fear of the new digital tools. Certain jobs should not be done by people in the first place - jobs that are mind numbing and evoke the cry of despair "I went to college, and I need to do this!?!”. By moving such tasks to digital automation, job enrichment is achieved and the whole organization benefits."

Bharath Bangalore, CEO, Blue Ocean Strategic Partners (former CFO, Large Hospitality Enterprises)

2. Sympathy, caring and empathy. Who wants to be told they have a positive cancer scan by a chat bot? How could a machine possibly understand the depth of human emotions a person is going through at that precious moment? Who wants to talk to an insurance chatbot when they have just been in a car accident and are feeling at their most raw, emotional, and vulnerable? A robot actions, people care.

To deal with a person we need skilled staff to have exceptional emotional intelligence. Every day we face a wide variety of complex emotional contexts. Different people reach each emotional situation differently. Some respond with humour, some with sarcasm and perhaps some, with anger. The ability to interpret, distinguish and respond appropriately are still very human qualities.?

Functions like healthcare, frontline operations, or luxury sales need empathy and understanding. They may be assisted by technology, but they also rely on deep human qualities.??

"Those companies that best mesh great people skills with AI infused, multi-modal conversational business application platforms.?By combining the best of people and conversational business technology businesses can create more and greater opportunities to have, and develop, deeper commercial relationships in a personalised way at any time of day or night.

“In the movies and on TV, has there ever been a robot laugh or cry that isn’t positioned as being strange or off putting? Superficially they may look more and more like humans, but the indisputable fact is they will never be one-to-one. There will always be a need for human touch, the responsibility of automation is to give us back the time and resources to make it more accessible.”

Peter Steube, Sr. Director - Content & Community, Gartner Peer Insights ?

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3. Higher Cognitive Abilities. Beyond the data, reports and analytics, humans need to make decisions. Decisions impact businesses and other people. A variety of measurable and immeasurable factors go into great decision making, sometimes in an intuitive, and not easily explainable, way. Past sales data may be available and measurable. But the growth and initial interest in vegan protein amongst people did not have easily accessible, and crunchable, easily quantifiable data. The ability to interpret qualitative data is a uniquely human trait.

Whilst qualitative interpretation is a wonderfully human trait, human judgement decision making can be augmented by excellent interpretive, predictive and prescriptive AI platforms.

Recreating the best cognitive, decision making and conversational patterns of the very brightest people is the holy grail of technology vendors.??The best AI conversational business platforms which possess exceptional analytics capabilities, when layered on top of existing business applications, move organisations in that direction.

?“In the early days of software automation & AI, most workers thought that bots would take their jobs. Today, most employees don’t even want these monotonous low-value jobs anyways and successful companies are better communicating the fact that automation will not only not replace them but actually make their lives easier, and allow them to focus on higher-value, more challenging & rewarding activities.”

Daniel Goodstein, President of The Institute for RPA & AI (IRPA AI) & The Digital Enterprise Institute

4. Human connection. We are herd animals that need other members of our herd. We are built to network. We crave human conversations, attention and the touch of other people.

A positive transformative force is created when people come together and push to progress and improve how things work today. Organizations are transformed by people not technology. Bringing people together to ideate and create results in a new and better society. Technology cannot ‘feel’. Humans don’t bond with metal or plastic. If you want creativity, get people to meet and talk to each other.

“We have had the technology to automatically brew a cup of coffee for decades, yet Starbucks is still one of the top companies in the world. Why? At the end of the day, humans are social creatures.

Humans ultimately want to engage with others and offer value to the world. Technology is meant to be an enabler, not a replacement for people. How we will provide value and interact with one another may change over time, but I truly believe that the human nature that has been around for hundreds of years will remain constant.”

Ema Roloff, Director of P&C Sales at EIS

Conclusion

In 2018, the World Economic Forum forecast [2] that; “The rapid evolution of machines and algorithms in the workplace could create 133 million new roles in place of 75 million that will be displaced”

Despite doomsday predictions that machines will replace humans. the report found that jobs will, in fact expand.

In our everyday conversations and experiences with organisations, there are key MOTs (moments of truth). These key moments decide how we perceive a brand. Firms need people during these key MOTs, not machines.

Technology platforms that augment great conversations will prove pivotal in the coming years.

Yet many firms, in their rush to digitise to cut costs, forget the importance of skilled humans and exceptional conversational platforms.??Consequently, they suffer from declining customer satisfaction survey results and increased customer attrition.

Great technology augments human conversation and experience, it does not replace it.

To deliver exceptional service organisations need to understand when humans are needed, when technology is appropriate and provide both to deliver experiences that delight and excite.??The future of business is still conversational but it won’t just be people who have great conversations with you.

?[1] https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/operations/future-ready-operations

?[2] https://www.weforum.org/press/2018/09/machines-will-do-more-tasks-than-humans-by-2025-but-robot-revolution-will-still-create-58-million-net-new-jobs-in-next-five-years/

[3] Future-citizen skills | McKinsey

Author: Kieran Gilmurray

I am recognized as a digital transformation, intelligent automation, data analytics and social media strategy thought leader.

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