How Companies Can Get Employees on Board With the New Wave of AI
Remember the days back in early November 2022, when ChatGPT had not yet been unleashed on the world? In the ensuing two months since its release, ChatGPT has sown a path of disruption.
This “decentralization” of AI gave the public access to tools that were once only available to tech giants with their own proprietary data, creating new opportunities for smaller companies and individuals to benefit.
ChatGPT and its related generative AI brethren carry great potential. But along with the potential, they’re sparking concern that their proliferation may come at the expense of workers. With some employees hesitant to test new AI out, employers will need to address these fears if they want to foster meaningful innovation.
Generative AI Causing a Stir
Employee fear over automation isn’t new. However, AI use in business has so far focused more on automating low-level tasks and processes, which ultimately gave employees time to focus on more critical duties.
New AI tools no longer just take busy work out of employees’ hands, though. They can now create marketing copy, produce art, write songs and generate entire news articles — albeit with mixed results
Yet with people now seeing AI tackling these high-level tasks once considered out of its realm, many knowledge workers fear their jobs may be at greater risk.
This isn’t entirely unfounded. BuzzFeed recently announced plans to use OpenAI tools, including ChatGPT, to produce certain kinds of content for its website. This came on the heels of a 12% workforce reduction in late 2022.
François Candelon, global director of the BCG Henderson Institute, believes that while it's too early to tell if it will result in true displacement, new generative AI developments will amplify employee concerns over their professional identities.
With ChatGPT mimicking human voices, it’s understandable why workers are afraid, Candelon said.
“As we’ve demonstrated in the study, traditional AI can provide value to both companies and their employees," he said. "For generative AI, the jury is still out."
Related Article: AI at Work Still a Work in Progress
Rethinking Collaborative Intelligence
With generative AI potentially taking on a greater share of labor, employers need to rethink what they consider collaborative intelligence, which, in essence, is humans and AI working together for the greatest outcome.
As mentioned earlier, certain AI functions can empower employees by automating busy work, giving employees recommendations and reducing the need for managerial oversight. In fact, research from BCG found that 64% of workers said they benefit from using AI in their role.
Tim Kulp, chief innovation officer at Mind Over Machines, believes there will be renewed focus on finding the ideal relationship between AI and human employees, which, he says, starts by making sure the latter knows how to use the former.
“People who don’t consider how to use these technologies will be replaced by someone who can use them to amplify their value,” Kulp said.
On the other hand, companies also need to understand, and find ways to maximize, the value that human employees bring to their role, the business and to customers.
“If you can automate it, so can everyone else,” Kulp said. “What’s your differentiator?”
Related Article: Artificial Intelligence Is About Collaboration, Not Job Elimination
Great Promise … With Big Risks
Kulp likened AI writing to a “creativity superfood” but cautioned against using it for fact-based content. “The big risk with AI is that you can do things much faster, but that includes ruining your reputation,” he said.
Indeed, despite the tool’s many use cases, it has significant drawbacks, particularly when it comes to factual accuracy.
Tech publication CNET recently made news when they revealed that they had published numerous feature articles generated by AI. However, it quickly came to light that many of these stories contained glaring errors, which staff are now going back to correct.
Learning Opportunities
OpenAI founder Sam Altman himself cautioned against using ChatGPT for “anything important” in a December tweet.
ChatGPT is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness.
— Sam Altman (@sama) December 11, 2022
it's a mistake to be relying on it for anything important right now. it’s a preview of progress; we have lots of work to do on robustness and truthfulness.
“At the moment, there’s no truth function,” Candelon said. “So, while [generative AI] can be useful for a first draft, it needs strong supervision from humans.”
Candelon says that because tools like ChatGPT rely on public data, they can easily amplify bias, which many users have confirmed. Companies testing out the tool also need to be careful about what they expose.
“As soon as you make a prompt, it digests all that data, and you don’t know how it will be used,” Candelon said. “That creates a real question about data confidentiality, whether it’s yours or your customers'.”
Related Article: Generative AI, the Great Productivity Booster?
A Plan for Embracing Change
With all of these concerns in play, companies need to be mindful about how they start exploring new AI tools in the workplace. If not introduced thoughtfully, employees may be less willing to contribute, Kulp said.
Both Candelon and Kulp suggested ways to foster stronger adoption of AI tools among employees:
Bring employees to the table early. No one knows how work is done better than the employees who actually do it, Kulp said. The best way to get value from tools like ChatGPT is to find intentional uses. Invite employees to share their current problems, and brainstorm ways AI can solve it.
“Don’t just ask them to go use it like a toy,” he said.
Demystify AI as part of your upskilling efforts. Candelon says employees need to understand not just the technology behind this kind of AI, but also what it can and can’t do. But as with all training efforts, Kulp says it’s not enough to just have the budget or formal classes; employers need to make sure employees have the time and space to explore on their own.
Allow employee input on practices. Kulp believes employees should be able to push back on what kind of work should stay human. Employees should also have influence over the corporate AI philosophy, including who AI-driven projects should report to, who gets involved if there’s an issue and who’s accountable if things go wrong.
Make sure AI enforces your competitive advantage. While most AI exploration at companies today should remain internal, Candelon said companies need to figure out how generative AI can reinforce their competitive advantage. “The objective should be to better your business, not AI itself,” he said.
Ultimately, Candelon said he believes this new stage of AI experimentation can have a positive impact on culture, as it boosts morale when people know they’re working for advanced companies that are invested in long-term success.
“We need to understand [this technology] so we can use it the right way,” Candelon said. “We need to embrace change, but do it carefully.”
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About the Author
Nidhi Madhavan is a research editor at Simpler Media Group, where she creates data-driven content and research for SMG and their clients. Nidhi received her B.A. in Journalism from Loyola University Chicago.
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