Navigating the Transformative Landscape of AI: A Thoughtful Approach to Innovation

The realm of technology was a thrilling space for me last year - and it's promising to be just as fascinating this year; witnessing new developments in robotics, extended reality and artificial intelligence (AI). I am a person who, when hearing about a new tech or application, is at once drawn to the avenues it could open for my industry, my company, my family and the world. My husband’s mind, in stark contrast, immediately goes to how AI could be used to the detriment of industry, people and the world.

Acknowledging the validity of both perspectives in the advent of generative AI and the outlook toward artificial general intelligence (AGI) signals a pivotal turning point. As I marvel at the current capabilities, projecting my thoughts a decade or two into the future becomes almost inevitable.

Innovating Tomorrow: Robotics, Virtual Reality and the AI Frontier

Consider the scenario showcased in an article I read (“AI is Building Highly Effective Antibodies That Humans Can’t Even Imagine”): To create antibodies, scientists need to find proteins that can differentiate between healthy and diseased cells, attach to the diseased cells and recruit immune cells to complete the process. Finding such proteins takes humans a long time – and when they do find something, they may not be perfect, but they need to be “good enough”; so, we make a lot of small tweaks to try to refine it further. However, tweaking one thing might improve one feature a little bit but may have a disastrous effect on other required attributes (e.g., toxicity). Now there is an AI algorithm that can search the full space for the ideal protein based on the only human input being “here’s an example of a healthy cell, here’s an example of a diseased cell”. The system explores the different antibody designs that can differentiate between them and, with limited human supervision, the AI designs antibodies for specific diseases, then automated robotic systems build and grow them in a lab, run tests and feed the data back into the algorithm. Knowing this can be done today, what could this mean for medical research to cure Alzheimer's, cancer or other debilitating illnesses?

Virtual reality (VR), often met with mixed views, offers another realm of possibilities. We put on a set of goggles and our mind is transported away from the here and now. The first time you immerse yourself in VR, it is the strangest experience. If you’ve ever had a dream where you’re flying, you’ll remember the feeling. This is what I was reminded of when I played a free-flying game in VR. I felt light, conscious of height, free, at times worried about crashing into the hills and, amazingly, I felt the wind. Now, I was actually just standing in my living room and just swaying my head with my arms out and there clearly was no wind. This is possible with a basic VR headset with simple graphics and surround sound. Upgrade to greater processing power and a different set-up and G-Force simulation as used by the military for fighter pilot training, add heat simulation for fire fighter training. Most recently, we’ve been able to simulate scent. Suspending your disbelief is becoming easier as VR taps into our perception.

Peering into the future, could I use these technologies to take my dad, who struggles to walk, to Costa Rica for a weekend to explore the rain forest and see the animals? What might it do for an Alzheimer’s patient at the stage where they are living in the past and don’t recognize anything or anyone around them anymore – could a combination of digital twins, AI and virtual reality let them live in their memories, slowly re-introducing people from today’s world? Might the reduction of the incredible stress caused by regular and sudden realisation of one’s actual mental state give time to cure or halt the disease?

The intertwining thread of robotics further enriches the technological landscape. Automation and robots have long been central to making our lives easier, improving company profits, workplace safety and forcing us to upskill or pivot in what our work should be. There are certain jobs that are dangerous for a human to perform such as lifting heavy objects, stirring 2000-degree Celsius molten metal, collecting and packaging radioactive waste, working in contaminated environments. There are others that people don’t want to do and still others that robots are simply better at, e.g., data entry, grass cutting, manual precision work. These are just a few basic examples. The list is growing and concerns about job displacement should be acted upon.

A little side note: I had initially included proofreading in the list of things a robot can do better. However, having tried automation to proof this article and then having a human professional proofreader do so, automation did not notice multiple points and missed critical nuance. Hence, I removed it from the list.

Lessons from the past

Change and challenge forces us to adapt and evolve. The Industrial Revolution created economic growth, improved wages, advancements in production, growth in inventions and brought us the sewing machine, X-ray, lightbulb, calculator, combustion engine and anesthesia, as well as improvements in transportation networks. It changed what people did and how and where they worked and lived.

The downsides of this rapid progress were food shortages due to workers leaving their farms, unsanitary living conditions due to the steep increase in the number of factories and people living in cities, deplorable working conditions and child labour.

Reflecting on the lessons from the Industrial Revolution in the context of AI, we understand that we need to find a balance between the rewards and risks to avoid unintended, multi-faceted consequences. What could happen if we had AI judges? What would happen if we had it do our city and emissions planning? Can we outsource recruitment to an AI? There are thousands of use cases for AI in all industries. There are certain obvious consequences of AI: certain job roles will become redundant, and we’re concerned about systemic bias and data protection. There are others that are not and may never be clear or predictable as we do not fully understand why AI makes decisions the way it does. If we don’t understand the equation, how can we understand the consequence?

For something so pivotal, pushing on despite lack of understanding is risky. We’ve seen major influencers and AI creators petitioning to stop development of AI until our understanding has caught up. This has raised awareness to a degree, but innovation and discovery will not stop. Just a few months ago, some of the world’s leaders in politics, technology, business and academia have gotten together at the first Global AI Safety Summit to develop a shared understanding of risks, put forward process for international collaboration and to highlight how ensuring the safe development of AI would enable AI to be used for good globally.

This is a great step in the right direction as it looks to address both intent and tribal bias by involving a cross-section of countries and industries. The summit was restricted by politics (looking at the list of country leaders) and we did not see sociologists, anthropologists or psychiatrists represented. Tribal bias may be one of the greatest challenges for us to overcome as that requires us to seek consensus with people from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds, value systems, areas of interest / expertise and levels of seniority in the work. How many of the people invited to the summit were not C-level or equivalent but team leaders whose people may be directly affected by job losses due to AI and automation?

Navigating AI’s impact: Business Imperatives & Ethical Considerations

For businesses, the imperative is to continue innovating and pushing growth responsibly – it's good for employees, shareholders, and the marketplace. The intentionality behind AI usage is crucial. Do we want to use AI to single out perceived detractors so that we can address the problem allowing us to maximize compliance, control messaging and stifle dissent? Or do we want to use AI to understand the pulse of our company to better inform our action and responses as leaders and create a culture of transparency, inclusion and diversity of thought? Each business leader must grapple with these questions, recognizing the nuanced opportunities and risks.

To shape a company’s AI intent, addressing tribal bias is paramount. To that end, my company has put together an AI Council where all departments are represented in various workstreams and collaborate to arrive at a solid AI strategy and roadmap. We have taken care to ensure we include people who provide diversity of perspective. As we evolve, we may discover that we are still too narrow in our selection. Therefore, constant evaluation of inclusivity, spanning cross-generational, geographical, and career-level considerations will be an ongoing commitment.

We have an opportunity to redefine how recruitment is done. The urgency surrounding AI implementation is front of mind for us and the balance between intent, responsibility and time is delicate:

1.?????? Do the right thing – for your people, your business and your industry.

2.?????? How can AI serve your company goals, how does it influence your strategy?

3.?????? How can we be intentional and not be left behind?

It is our AI Council’s job to make sure we satisfy all three. It’s the third point that makes companies and investors feel an overwhelming sense of urgency. We see this in the shape of language, conferences, podcasts, advertising... Everything is AI. Yet the number of transformative AI use cases found in the world of Human Resources and recruitment are not there yet. Instead, we see companies developing further their existing AI and staffing companies continue to use matching and ranking engines, chatbots, CV parsing etc. Of course, you do see opportunistic use of generative AI, articles, thought pieces but very rarely do you see a business that has thought through its identity, business strategy and long-term vision and goals under the lens of the AI today and the possibility of Artificial General Intelligence. This is good news for companies like mine as it should give us relief in the stifling time pressure we may feel.

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, the possibilities presented by robotics, virtual reality and AI are exhilarating and frightening. Navigating this challenging terrain requires business leaders, shareholders, employees and entrepreneurs to be committed to intentionality, responsibility, openness to the unknown and proactive mitigations against risks as well as a framework through which unknown consequences may be addressed as they surface. As my company embarks on its AI journey, our emphasis must remain on intentional and strategic development as we aim to innovate purposefully with a focus on enhancing both the vitality of our business and the quality of our lives.