Future-proofing work: AI and the evolution of the workplace

With generative AI being integrated into workplace systems, corporations have the opportunity to incorporate a distinct “voice” in GPT models that reflects their culture and identity.

Written by Guest

March 30, 2024 16:35 IST

At the forefront of predictive maintenance, AI excels in anomaly detection

– By Sumeet Doshi

The growing influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the daily lives of individuals is reshaping the way they interact with technology and consume information. The workplace is no exception to this paradigmatic shift towards a more AI reliant ecosystem. According to a recent survey by PwC India, 54% companies across sectors have implemented AI for their business operations. As AI continues to weave itself into the fabric of daily work routines, its impact on collaboration, skill requirements, and job roles is becoming more pronounced. This dynamic integration is not merely a technological advancement but a fundamental restructuring of how work is conceptualized and executed.

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Generative AI, a subset of AI characterized by its ability to understand the nuances of human language, is playing a key role in reshaping the domain of HR and workforce management so as to create a more exceptional employee experience. It is true that there is no one size fits all solution that can effectively address the varied challenges pervading the modern workforce. However, with GPT models being fine tuned to understand the unique needs of an organization, the people it employs, and the industry it operates in, it helps bring in a more personalized approach to address these challenges.

Human-centric AI practices

The development and deployment of AI technologies needs to always be complemented by human involvement at every step to increase their effectiveness and adaptability in reducing bias, avoiding toxicity, and maintaining compliance. Having a human in the loop consistently validates the content generated by AI models, providing essential feedback and making decisions. This not only helps address their potential limitations but also enhances their reliability, ethical standing, and user acceptance.

According to a recent study by UKG, 73 per cent employees in India report that their organizations employ AI in the workplace, but only 47 per cent employees completely and 44 per cent employees somewhat understand how it’s used. The existence of black box AI models, where the system’s decision making process is impenetrable, it becomes difficult for humans to discern the patterns that generate the outcomes. In such cases, organizations can incorporate explainability techniques involving user education programs, iterative development, and open-source initiatives to ensure transparency and enable human involvement. Companies need to keep in sight the fact that human intervention continues to be at the center of AI developments as they go on to transform the experiential and operational realities that define ‘work’.

‘Work’ dynamics and generative AI

Since the onset of the global pandemic, the landscape of ‘work’ has experienced numerous disruptions, fostering an organizational culture that emphasizes values such as diversity, equity, inclusivity, and belonging. With generative AI being integrated into workplace systems, corporations have the opportunity to incorporate a distinct “voice” in GPT models that reflects their culture and identity. Especially, the integration of conversational AI into existing HR and workforce management systems, will prove crucial in fundamentally changing how employees navigate the workplace.

Be it as regular as hourly workers requesting flexible schedules or something as complex as an employee having difficulties in their personal lives, the system would be equipped to help them. In the case of flexibility around shift assignments, it could predict the time periods around which schedules could be requested that won’t lead to loss of compensation such as shift premiums. For employees undergoing personal difficulties, the system could help guide them to an employee resource group (ERG), or even to other individuals that have gone through similar situations. All of these processes will, of course, need to be governed by individual privacy options, information sharing opt-ins, and rights to be forgotten. Conversational AI skilled in contextualization and summarization, can enable individuals and leaders to better ideate and communicate in a way that aligns with the organization’s specific values, and language style, thus augmenting their work.

Balancing innovation with ethics

The concern around ethics is paramount in the background of implementing generative AI-enabled tools in existing HR and workforce management processes. The UKG study reveals that 88% of Indian employees say they want to be more accepting of AI and expect their organizations to be more transparent about its usage. To navigate this landscape responsibly, organizations must establish and adhere to a specific set of guidelines aligned with their existing policies so as to mitigate potential legal, commercial, security, and reputational risks.

Creating policies that clearly define the capacity in which AI systems are deployed, corporations can ensure the responsible training, configuration, and implementation of GPT and conversational AI models with a focus on transparency and ethical considerations. By providing proper guidance to users regarding the handling of confidential information, especially within publicly available generative AI domains, companies can safeguard sensitive data and placate the risk of unauthorized disclosures. When it comes to training the AI models whilst simultaneously addressing ethical and legal considerations, organizations need to implement added safeguards and communicate messages to users, enabling safe reporting procedures to facilitate the retention of the solution.