AI has been under the gun lately. Skeptics are out in droves, and there are genuine ethical questions that need answered as humankind develops this era-defining technology. When it comes to new tech, it’s crucial to harness the good without unleashing the bad.
Luckily, there are already great examples of the positive effects of AI in the workplace. Here are a few of the ways that automation and artificial intelligence have been and continue to be a revolutionary force in the lives of professionals.
1. AI Is improving hiring
AI is present in the workplace right from the beginning. For example, HR professionals are using AI as they recruit and onboard employees.
Recruiting Daily reports that the “advent of artificial intelligence” has made recruitment simpler and more efficient. You can see this in activities like automated applications and applicant tracking systems.
The recruitment news site adds that AI saves time, is hyper-efficient, and helps remove human bias from the hiring process. It can even enhance the quality of a company’s hires by helping to recruit talent with the “best-of-the-best credentials” within days of their hitting the open market.
2. AI Is Helping With the Workflow
While bleeding-edge AI may be able to write novels and construct pictures, its antecedents have already been revolutionizing work through the simple stuff. Things like automated responses and scheduling are well-established game-changers for most workplaces.
For instance, in task management systems, there are features that automatically assign due dates when moving items between categories. Additionally, certain applications employ AI-based “summarizing” functions to expedite communication. Most commonly used communication platforms, such as email, social media, and messaging apps, offer options to schedule both one-time and recurring messages.
These may seem small and mundane. Heck, most of them aren’t even new concepts. But they highlight how AI is changing work, and one of the simplest answers is that it’s quietly improving workflow … everywhere.
3. AI reduces administrative stress
AI has a subtle-though-significant impact on stress and workplace overwhelm, too. Angel Mehta provides a great example as to how.
Mehta spent his early career building a corporate empire as the CEO of a global executive recruitment firm, Sterling-Hoffman Executive Search. Staffing firms at the time were notorious for being slow to innovate. Mehta saw an opportunity to create an entirely new way of operating. Sterling-Hoffman became one of the first recruiting firms in the world to outsource major business operations to India, moving everything from research to digital marketing overseas. “I suppose I was more comfortable with this because I have Indian heritage; I could reach out to family to help with the nightmarish Indian bureaucracy, which would’ve been nearly impossible for anyone else to handle back in the early 2000s.”
A few years later, the large number of staff in India became increasingly difficult to manage, and Mehta realized that the answer lay in the use of artificial intelligence and automation technology. Long before ChatGPT or large language models became available, Sterling-Hoffman began wide-scale deployment of artificial intelligence and automation technologies. “To the outside world, we looked like a typical HR services firm. But in the end, we were really more of a technology company. We didn’t sell technology, but we used it in a way that nobody in our industry came close to doing. It powered everything from analysis of resumes to tracking of employee productivity.”
The strategy worked. Sterling-Hoffman grew and was later sold to a larger staffing firm. In 2018, having reaped the rewards of artificial intelligence, Mehta retired and moved to Italy.
4. AI is rewriting the customer experience
So far, this article has covered how AI helps humans operate in basic professional pursuits. From interviews to communication to work-life balance, AI tools are helping across the board. They’re also having an impact on the customer side of the equation.
ChatGPT, for instance, is a viable candidate to replace chatbots. Many companies are also using the tool to brainstorm and develop marketing content that speaks to customer needs and pain points.
The ability of AI to provide answers with highly informed LLM (large language model) precision is another game-changer. It allows customer service teams to provide genuine automated experiences that can answer most customer questions and is available 24/7. It also enables marketers to create well-informed, targeted content that has greater value and piques customer interest.
AI Is coming … and it must be embraced the right way
AI is the 21st century’s equivalent of the development of nuclear power a century ago. It is a game-changing form of tech that must be taken seriously. It’s something with plenty of upside as well as potential for concern.
With that said, the marketplace is often where new tech cuts its teeth, and at the moment, many of the most powerful positive impacts that AI can have are being seen in the workplace. It’s crucial to keep these in mind while grappling with the downsides, as well.
From streamlined activity and better workflow to destressing and improved customer experiences, there is much to like about AI at work. The question is, can workers continue to tap into these benefits without alarming the world in the process? It’s a question that will need to be answered satisfactorily … and soon.
VentureBeat newsroom and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
Jon Stojan
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