Artificial intelligence is impacting workplaces in a multitude of ways. Intelligent agents monitor patterns of work and communication and make suggestions and adjustments. Multi-factor authentication systems monitor our identities and check our movements in the cloud network and were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic control systems. Numerous jobs we used to do manually are now completely done by computer algorithms, software or robots. In 2020, research indicated about one fifth of current jobs were affected in some way by artificial intelligence (AI), and one third of all jobs will be affected by 2030. The situation was only accelerating by 2023 as Australians continued to embrace technological solutions for all kinds of challenges involving need satisfaction, productivity and profitability.58 A relevant socio-technical question is, how are human workers relating to AI and how is this affecting overall organisational culture? For a start, leadership of a company must be different if you have a hybrid workforce of people, robots and algorithms. Also, how are humans reacting when a machine does a better job than them and they are replaced by a robot? What about the loss of privacy as new automated security systems are using biometric data to interface with the intelligent machines we work with? Some research is showing that relationships are developing between machines and humans as people form attachments with artificial agents such as Siri and Alexa through their smartphones and tablets.59 And we may question why most voice assistants have started with female voices.60 What will office parties be like in the future? How will gossip be transmitted? What will it mean for a team to celebrate a significant work goal when AI has done most of the work? There are many other culture-related questions we can and should ask as AI continues its march into workplaces everywhere.
Reflection question
Are the benefits of automation and artificial intelligence likely to be greater than the downsides for workers in future? What about for organisational managers and owners? Discuss.