In recent years, the potential application of artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly widespread, touching on all facets of society. We are already witnessing a transformation in the way we work, live, and do business. Artificial intelligence is becoming good at some jobs that were previously done by a human, including translating languages, diagnosing diseases, and customer service. In fact, AI already outperforms humans in some of these fields.
With the rapid rise of AI and automation, there is the fear that AI will ultimately replace humans, especially on these two scenarios:
- The Automation Scenario – AI is slowly replacing human workers, which could eventually take away all the jobs meant for humans. Most defenders of this thought fear that society will experience massive upheavals, as people adjust to a post-work era.
- The Terminator Scenario – Some people believe that AI could become so deliberate to the point of overthrowing humanity through a violent revolution. In other words, artificial machines will destroy humanity.
While these concerns are valid, they tend to ignore the job-creating and collaborative features of AI. Many experts believe that the future’s most successful organizations are the ones that will combine human workers and the best attributes of AI to drive innovation and efficiency. Indeed, the future success of intelligent machines will be dependent on collaborations with humans.
In this post, we will explore five ways in which humans can collaborate with machines.
1. Empower Workers to Use AI
Getting people to work harmoniously with AI-driven machines will not only deliver great results, but it will also minimize the much-awaited disruption in the workplace. The workers who are at risk of losing jobs are the ones who aren’t using AI. Therefore, getting more people to embrace AI will be crucial for success. Companies need to adopt a point-and-click type machine learning tools to help people appreciate the technology and possibly democratize it.
The AI age will require workers to work on new and different things – for instance, train chatbots – and operate differently. Companies must, therefore, think creatively and develop strategies to help their workers gain new skills to exploit the power of AI. A majority of hiring managers in the US believe that implementing workforce programs is the right way to prepare employees for future innovations and disruptions. Unfortunately, most of them have been slow to act.
2. Train AI Machines
Companies must train machine-learning algorithms to deliver the best results on what they are designed to do. For this reason, there is a need to amass large training data sets to teach medical apps to detect diseases and machine-translation apps to handle idiomatic expressions.
Perhaps what is even more critical is training AI-powered computers to interact with humans, which requires a lot of work. Installing the right qualities on a machine may take countless hours of attention. Just take Microsoft’s Cortana as an example. The bot underwent extensive training to develop complex and subtle human traits, such as caring, confident, and helpful but not bossy to humans.
3. Effective Communication and Mutual Trust
For humans and machines to collaborate effectively, mutual trust must exist between the two sides. Generally, computers tend to be more honest than humans in some areas. The best robots teammates are likely to be reliable while handling a fire incident.
Since robots might not be able to team up with humans automatically, they should be assigned active roles on a team. Besides this, they should also understand the roles of other team members and how to communicate effectively with humans.
To avoid inefficiencies in collaboration, humans should adapt to their non-human teammates. Developers should also design and create AI-enabled machines that serve as good team players alongside humans.
4. Division of Jobs
In the workplace, a team comprises a group of people performing separate, interdependent roles. As an illustration, a surgical team might include a surgeon, a nurse, and an anesthesiologist. In a similar fashion, members of a human-robot team should be organized to take on different elements of the larger project.
For the best outcome, robots should do things they are best at, such as handling repetitive tasks that may not need critical thinking. They can also handle roles that humans don’t like to do – for instance, testing chemicals, lifting heavy objects, and crunching data. With this system, people are free to perform what they are most skilled at, for instance, coming up with creative solutions to complex problems.
For instance, a human-robot PC error troubleshooting team might assign a human the role of reading PC repair guides and providing overall direction, while the robot diagnoses and implement relevant Windows error solutions, delete junk files, and replace hardware, among other duties. Such a critical operation might require humans to replicate themselves as machines because AI that mimics human traits may mislead the team.
5. Commit to Responsible AI
While AI can complement humans in many ways, organizations need to use it responsibly. Skills for the AI-driven work environment aren’t just a technical affair. The leadership should commit to using AI is a way that is accountable, transparent, and free from bias.
Closing Remarks: Enhancing Collective Intelligence
The combined effort of computers and humans will yield better results than either the most advanced algorithms or the most talented humans working in isolation. Experts believe that AI will not only enhance human skills at work, but it will also be a game-changer in terms of collective intelligence.
The problem of the future will require diverse thinking from skillful people from all over the globe. When people share their thinking with one another, it sparks new connections, thus inspiring new ideas.
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| Author Bio:
A Computer Engineer by degree and a writer by profession, Cathy Trimidal writes for Software Tested and Outbyte. For years now, she has contributed articles focusing on the trends in IT, VPN, web apps, SEO, and digital marketing. Although she spends most of her days living in a virtual realm, she still finds time to satisfy her infinite list of interests. |
