There is no need to fear AI. No, this is not an article motivating you to work hard to keep up. Sounds interesting? Read on.
It is not a stretch to say that there is a whole industry out there in cyberspace, dedicated to reassuring that AI is a bubble. This industry exists because there are a lot of ears waiting to hear just that.
But what if there is no need to feel threatened in the first place? That, irrespective of the technical details of where the limits of AI capabilities lie, at a fundamental level, we are not in a competitive relationship with AI.
A lot of the reporting on the issue, intentionally or unintentionally, pits AI against humans. Man vs. machine. Think about it, if there was ever to be such a contest, don’t you realise that man will always end up on the losing side!
Why? Because a machine can never lose. It is not a person, it is a thing. Sad to say that this essential distinction, the subject of the famed first chapter of scientific studies in school - “Living and Non-living things” - is the very lesson that needs the most reminding. Things don’t win or lose. Only people do.
The simple conclusion that comes out of this is to choose not to play that game.
What, then, is the game that we ought to play? It is the game of continuously striving to assert the dignity of a person. What follows are a few examples of how this can be practiced.
Let’s take the workplace - the central theatre where most of the conversation around AI happens today.
- Are you a manager who feels so empowered that you can meet your goals without having to rely on your team members so much?
- Are you a senior who feels relieved that you can reclaim the work back from your juniors and just get it done faster yourself?
- Are you a junior who is glad to have gotten more independence from your seniors?
- Are you a CEO who is less stressed about having to hire and expand your team to meet the rising demand?
- Are you an HR manager who doesn’t have to worry so much about benefits and leaves because your workforce is increasingly composed of machines?
In all of the scenarios above, there are real tangible benefits - empowered managers, productive and independent employees, less burdened executives, overall less costs to the company. I am not here to say that such benefits should be consciously rejected in the name of charity.
But, in each of those situations, there is a decision that needs to be made. It is not a choice between a man and a machine; but one between a man and no-man. To do it alone vs. to do it together.
There is no economic theory that supports the thesis that an individual always accomplishes more than a team. In fact, a high-performing team will trump an individual any day, all day.
So, what is the catch? The catch is that it takes effort and quite frankly sacrifice on the part of those faced with that choice, to build and maintain such teams. Hopefully, it is sacrifice that many will continue to be willing to make.
So, next time someone seeks to collaborate with you, be grateful. Because they are making an active choice to do it together rather than to do it alone. That is an act of affirmation of human dignity right there.
It will do us good to stop thinking in transactional terms, as is often the norm in the workplace. And to stop thinking - he is paying me because he needs my skills. The problem with that statement is that it short sells your worth. You are reducing yourselves to just your skills. That, is asking for trouble. Because, when AI can automate away your skills, your worth reduces to zero.
We are living in a world where skill is an idol, a false god. And we carry that idol in our minds and attitudes. We identify ourselves so much with our skills, to the point that, we let it define our identity. So much so that we equate our roles in an organisation with who we really are. That is why, when AI is legitimately eliminating some of those roles in the organisation, we feel so threatened. We end up picking up a fight with AI, playing a game that has no winners.
So stop fearing AI. And it all begins with stopping to identify ourselves with our roles in the organisation. Know that AI is a tool and we are always its masters.
Organisations need to internalise this message and reflect that in their daily rituals. Talk praising AI should be understood as fundamentally debilitating - machines don’t deserve the spotlight, only the humans using them do. Instead, people should be praised for the work they accomplish by their effective use of their tools.
Long-held habits of fostering a stable organisational hierarchy by encouraging role-based identities should be de-emphasised. Instead, hierarchies should be understood more directly as what they are - structures of ownership, while allowing roles to be acquired, transferred or relinquished collaboratively.
Overall, there is a lot of soul searching that lies ahead in the workplace. More than anything, AI presents yet another opportunity to truly look in the mirror and see ourselves for who we really are. But, alas, that depends on the mirror you are looking into !