Experts predict that artificial intelligence (AI), on a larger scale, will contribute as much as $15.7 trillion in global economic growth by 2030. This is in an economy where data is changing how companies create value and compete.
Many believe that AI is changing the way companies work and that organizations will begin to replace their human employees with intelligent machines. Intelligent systems are already displacing human workers in manufacturing, finance, and service delivery. This results in them moving towards lower-paid or unemployed jobs. Some believe that our workforce could be utterly unrecognizable by 2040.
Is it possible for humans and machines to compete with one another? People have outsourced their labor to machines throughout work history, especially since the Industrial Revolution. Although it started with repetitive, repetitive tasks such as weaving, machines can now perform complex cognitive work like math equations and recognition of speech and language. The machines can now do the same as our brains, but not our bodies.
The 21st century is seeing AI evolve to surpass humans in many tasks. This makes it easier to outsource Intelligence to technology. This latest trend suggests that no job cannot be automated soon so that any job can be outsourced to machines.
This vision of the future work has been recast as a zero-sum game in which only one winner can be chosen.
However, we believe that this view of AI's role in the workplace is incorrect. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not replace humans. This is a misconception. AI-based machines can be faster, more accurate, and consistent reasoning, but they cannot be intuitive, emotional, or culturally sensitive. These are the very abilities that make us human and effective.
Machine Intelligence vs. Human Intelligence
People recognize advanced computers today as intelligent. They can learn from the information they receive and make informed decisions. However, although we might recognize this ability, it is an entirely different kind of Intelligence than we possess.
In its most basic form, AI is a computer that acts and decides in ways that appear intelligent. AI is a computer that imitates human behavior, feelings, speech, and decision-making. Alan Turing formulated this philosophy. This Intelligence is beneficial in an organizational setting. AI's ability to imitate human behavior allows it to recognize informational patterns and optimize job-related trends. AI can also continue working as long as it has data, unlike humans.
These characteristics make AI well-suited for lower-level repetitive tasks and take place in a closed management environment. This system has clear rules that are unaffected by external influences. For example, an assembly line is where workers are not interrupted due to external demands or effects such as work meetings. The assembly line is an example of where Amazon put algorithms in the position of managers to supervise workers and fire them. Because the work is repetitive, it is subject to strict procedures that optimize efficiency and productivity. As a result, AI can perform better than human supervisors.
However, human abilities are far more extensive than AI. Contrary to AI capabilities that only respond to data, humans can imagine, anticipate and feel changing situations. This allows them to move from short-term to longer-term concerns. These abilities are unique and do not require constant external data, such as artificial Intelligence.
This is how humans can represent authentic Intelligence or a different kind of AI. Open systems provide this type of Intelligence. Open management systems allow the organization or team to interact with the outside world and must deal with external influences. This type of work environment requires adapting to unexpected changes and degraded information exchange while also being creative in defining a vision and future strategy. Transformative efforts are constantly at work in open systems, and authentic Intelligence is required to manage them.
Although Artificial Intelligence, also known as AI1 here, seems to be opposite to Authentic Intelligence, which is here called AI2. However, they can also complement each other. Both types of Intelligence can be used to offer specific talents in the context of an organization.
What talents, defined as the ability to meet performance requirements, are required to be successful? First, it is important to stress that while talent may win games, it won't win championships. Teams win championships. We believe it will be the combination and the collaboration of both AI1 & AI2 that will lead to intelligent work in the future. It will enable organizations to be more efficient, accurate, creative, and proactive. We call this another type of AI, Augmented Intelligence (referred here as AI3).
Augmented Intelligence is the Third Type of Artificial Intelligence
What can AI3 offer that AI1 or AI2 cannot? This article's second author has a unique insight: He is a champion in chess and has also lost a high-level match to a computer. Garry Kasparov, the chess grandmaster, lost a game to Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer program. As a result, he was forced to rethink how chess can be approached as a team effort. After the surprise victory of Deep Blue, he decided that collaborating with artificial Intelligence was something he wanted to do.
In 1998, Kasparov was paired with a computer running the chess program of his choice, an arrangement known as "advanced Chess." He played against Veselin Topalov from Bulgaria, whom he had defeated 4-0 just a month before. The match ended in a draw, with both players having computers supporting them. However, using a PC seemed to have negated Kasparov's strategic and calculative advantages over his opponent.
This match was a great example of how AI might work for humans. Kasparov stated that the match allowed him to concentrate more on strategic planning while the computer did the calculations. He also pointed out that the perfect games were not created by putting together the best player and best computer. As with human teams, the power to work with an AI is determined by how people and computers complement each other. The best players and the most powerful AIs don't always produce the best results.
The chess world is an excellent example of how collaboration can work. Playchess.com hosted a 2005 "freestyle" tournament that allowed anyone to play in teams with other players and computers. This tournament was interesting because it featured several grandmasters who were computer-savvy. Most people assumed that one grandmaster would win this tournament with the help of a supercomputer. But that was not the case. A pair of amateur American players playing chess on three computers won the game. Their ability to effectively coordinate and coach their computers was what defeated a smart grandmaster with great computational power.
This unexpected result highlights an important lesson: how players and computers interact will determine how efficient the partnership will become. Kasparov said, "Weak human + computer + better process was superior to a powerful computer alone, and even more remarkable, superior to strong human + machine+ inferior process."
Recommendations
We see AI as a tool for collaboration and enhancing productivity far more than the pessimistic predictions about what it will do to society and organizations. We believe that increased productivity and automation of cognitively repetitive work are a boon and not a threat. New technology is always disruptive early in its implementation and development phases and often reveals its actual value only later.
However, this does not mean we should wait for the value to emerge. It is quite the opposite! As business people, our main challenge is understanding what artificial Intelligence means in relation to human thinking and acting and working with the new technologies strategically and ambitiously to be integrated into our businesses. It is impossible to wait passively for the latest technology to take over traditional methods. So what can we do now to incorporate the AI's and make our companies work efficiently?
First, teams will become a mix of non-humans and humans working together. This is called the "new variety." The psychology behind the new diversity could lead to stereotypical beliefs or biases that can influence team decisions and teamwork. For example, non-human coworkers may be treated with distrust and the same negative expectations as other out-group members. This could lead to humans avoiding machine-related information and encouraging them to share less. Leaders will need to be prepared to deal with negative team dynamics. They should also be trained to understand the consequences of such beliefs.
Leaders who can bring together different groups will be needed to create the new team structure. It will become a vital skill to train and develop the ability to create inclusive teams that align man and machine in the future. The above examples demonstrate that leaders must be able to coach and coordinate teams to improve performance.
The third aspect of team management will be required. This will require a human to do. Humans must be able to see how AI works and what it can do. They will also need to know how to use it to serve human needs best.
Augmented Intelligence is the third type of AI and the first step towards the future of intelligent work. The concept of the future of work refers to employees' growth and performance in more efficient ways. However, the debate surrounding this topic has been ambiguous. Due to cost-cutting strategies narratives, many businesses are now in a position where machines are introduced into the workforce as the super-employer. This may lead to humans being placed in an inferior job that serves machines. A key element to a bright future of work is that we expand the workforce, where humans and machines are part, to improve humanity and well-being while being more efficient in executing our jobs. While augmented Intelligence may be collaborative, it is also evident that it is a joint effort to serve humans.