How Roles evolve when Human Intelligence meets Artificial Intelligence at Work?

AI is reshaping our workplaces. For many of us, AI is just a technology. However, the reality is, AI is more about people and the Organization. When we talk about data and Gen AI, it is about AI enabling decisions and not just executing instructions. Increasingly, we are allowing AI to take ownership for our decisions, its impact and outcomes. AI is therefore playing the role of the individual. It is no more about helping you with just insights on which brand apparel is selling fast but also making a smarter decision on your behalf on how many orders to place in next two days.

Think about the activities around any business process. Soon we will have a team of AI Agents and a team of people working on a process like invoice reconciliation. People can’t say, ‘AI stopped working. I am not responsible for the delay’. There has to be someone accountable for AI actions. This individual is expected to deliver a set of activities and delegate some of the tasks to an AI for which the scope is defined. The AI will be accountable to that individual and the collective effort of the AI Agent and individuals assigned to the process will ensure accuracy and speed in reconciliation.

This means, people don’t lose jobs to AI, instead their roles will be elevated and get more complex. People will be expected to perform three key roles in the age of Gen AI:- A) Train: - Model AI to perform certain tasks and also develop the right personality. In the service industry where an AI is trained to respond to a patient, it must use the right words to reflect compassion and understanding and not sound bossy. ??B) Rationalise: Explain the outcome of the tasks and be accountable for AI deliverables. When an autonomous car meets with an accident, the individual must be able to explain to the insurer as to why it failed to predict the collision. ??C)Uphold: ?Ensure responsible use of AI. Ethics and compliance cannot be compromised, else this will lead to trust deficit – akin to bad quality that we attribute to certain brands when they don’t meet our expectations. Thus, organization roles will be redesigned across the reimagined business processes to optimize the intelligence of AI and Humans.

HR Professionals have a larger role to play in the age of Gen AI. It cannot be, “Well, this is just another technology hype”. ?First and foremost, they are the Organization culture custodians. If AI has to be responsible, it has to start with every individual within the organization thinking about using it right, culturally sensitive to use it responsibly. The need to balance wisdom and care is another critical aspect that needs to be reinforced. HR has to put a set of guidelines, protocols and governance in place. When it comes to AI adoption, HR becomes the Change Agent. HR plays an advisory role to business in managing change. Right communication, dispel any fears of AI taking away jobs, providing resources and support for people to learn AI is key to ensure that artificial intelligence meets human intelligence. Last but not the least, many aspects of talent management right from how performance reviews are conducted with AI+ Humans, what new roles to bring in, what policies need to change and how do we reward and recognize the best of AI +Humans are some of the elements that need immediate attention.

Plethora of opportunities for every individual to reskill and adapt. The AI- Fueled future of work definitely needs humans more than ever!

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