The world suddenly starts to look brighter as the larger hand hovers over the 6. 4:30pm you think only 30 minutes until I can go home for the weekend. That dreaded popup ends your jubilation as you start to read the email from your boss. Was the Fredricks order competed? You wince in anger and some regret as you start to key your reply. “No, I thought the priority was the Johnson order, I’ll take care of the Fredricks order Monday morning – we’re close, it won’t be problem” Moments later your boss replies with a terse “Very well, however this lateness will be noted in your review.” Wishing you could protest, but you know better, you know there’s no arguing with an AI.
More and more companies are embracing AI workers, not just in task oriented roles, but also in decision making ones. Some companies have gone as far as to implement monitoring systems to ensure compliance with the AI’s directives. HBR’s article discusses several such examples. And shows us a world where data-scientists are our ambassadors to our computerized coworkers.
While this sounds like Skynet it’s not all doom and gloom or shouldn’t be Schrage notes
CEOs should worry less about bringing autonomy to heel than making it a powerful source and force for competitive advantage.
Learning to trust the algorithm takes “humility and faith” two qualities that leaders should have in abundance.
Will you able to trust the machine?