Harnessing the power of AI whilst remaining human will define us

I have always been fascinated by humans, and I am fortunate to work in a business and industry where I connect daily with a diverse group of people worldwide; navigating this ever-evolving world as a business owner and parent to two teenage girls, technology is both an exciting and scary prospect for me.

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Our work across learning and recruitment solutions is hugely influenced by advancing technology, particularly artificial intelligence.?AI/Self-writing job adverts are a long way from scribbled notes, record cards and receiving CVs by post or fax! ?? ??

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I do most of my 'reading' in the car or when running, thanks to Audible, and my most recent read was the fantastic I, Human by Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Excellent read/listen, relatively short and easy to digest.

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Two main themes for me, which for many won't be new ideas per se but are highly compelling all the same:

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?? AI is or at least can be a self-fulfilling prophecy in that the algorithms try to predict our behaviours and suggest matches (Spotify, Netflix, Tinder ...), and as we take on/conform to the advice, we support the validity of the algorithm,?so it suggests more of the same; and round and round we go, becoming less human as we make less random choices and we all become very similar to everyone else in terms of life choices.?

?? More interestingly (for me, at least), studies show that when we automate things, we are prone to becoming lazy. The theory being that automation of more mundane tasks would free up our time to allow humans to do more high-level thinking/problem solving, but the opposite happens. Automation commonly stifles innovation and creative thought; we become lethargic as the lack of stimulus to problem-solve or work hard dampens our triggers to think; it removes/reduces our curiosity. So as we rely more on AI and automation, there is a significant risk that we can stagnate or regress as a culture and species, becoming less 'human' with each new app or device. Simplistically, when something is scarce in our lives or culture, we treat it with appropriate higher value and importance; when something is abundant, we don't. We become complacent; we think the party/food/time/ will last forever. Without challenge, adversity, and even oppression, we are slow to innovate and create, which surely is a trait that makes us human, at least what is cool about being a human and not being something boring like a stick or rock.

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My main takeaway here is, as the author states, that AI is amazing ?? , a real step-change that we as humans have developed (well done us ??), but it is how we now use it as a tool and remain human whilst harnessing its undoubted power and capability that will define us.

We need to remain in the driving seat and not kicking our shoes off in the heated luxury back seats of the self-driving limo we just had built by a fully automated factory.

Our learning team has developed the world's first fully scalable Human Leadership Development programme aimed at leaders keeping our human "switched on"?get in touch to trial it now in your organisation.

P.S. Thanks, Dr Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic ; great optimism and food for thought and helps settle a few nerves raised in my mind from the text around what the future of AI and humans ‘could be’ in Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari (which is also one of my fav books)

Tom Bailey

[email protected]

p.p.s. written by a hooman, not ChatGPT, so you know its good ??

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