Staff will not necessarily need to be able to program an algorithm, but they will need to be intelligent customers of AI technologies. A few high-end technology firms will need many AI programmers, but most organisations will be using AI systems developed elsewhere. It will also underpin other technologies, such as autonomous vehicles and the ‘metaverse’ – an emerging term for new collective cyber and virtual reality spaces. In coming years, we are likely to see AI advancements in processing human language, which could lead to improved chatbots and virtual assistants. Sensational films might make us anxious that AI will develop its own consciousness, but this remains the stuff of science fiction (although recently a Google engineer did worry their AI had become sentient).
Machine learning is used across many areas of everyday life, such as image recognition systems (like those used to tag photos on social media), in voice recognition systems (like those used by virtual personal assistants), and in recommender systems, such as those used by online retailers. The technology responsible for driving most current and recent advances within the field of AI is ‘machine learning’, which enables computer systems to perform specific tasks intelligently, by learning from data rather than pre-programmed rules. There are, however, a host of other, less well-discussed, challenges that business leaders will need to think about in order to harness the potential that artificial intelligence has to make organisations more efficient and more effective.Īrtificial intelligence (AI) is an umbrella term for a suite of technologies that performs tasks usually associated with human intelligence. They will therefore find they can deal with the most talked about bit of AI – the robo-apocalypse on jobs – in their stride.
They will be all too familiar with changes to staffing requirements caused by global shocks, new products and opportunities, or the behaviour of competitors. Ironically, the impact on jobs – although widely uncertain – is the part that people professionals are probably already well placed to handle.