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To call AI a hot-button issue is a gross understatement. Some say this technology will be the biggest change in human civilization since the invention of the atom bomb, but what exactly does that mean?
Some fear the rise of self-aware robots and their subsequent human extinction event, not unlike the events of Terminator. While not impossible, this outcome is far from a guarantee. The Cold War was a time when nuclear holocaust was widely discussed, and that still hasn’t happened.
Others fear the rising robots of today will soon take jobs from humans. There are echoes of an old South Park joke in this sentiment, but the real issue goes deeper than that. The real fear for many, particularly up and coming artists, is that soulless machines will crush their hopes and dreams at the behest of corporate overlords.
How realistic are these fears? As the years go on and this technology develops, who can say? For now, there’s still insurmountable value in humanity. This is the case for keeping your human touch, and how you can integrate it with AI technology.
Almost every industry is looking for ways to integrate AI into their operations. The biggest value it provides is efficiency, doing more work in less time at a lower cost . This is where the fear of human obsolescence comes into play, but this isn’t necessarily the goal of AI nor its guaranteed outcome.
AI provides advanced methods of automation and delegation. For the most part, its main purpose is to speed up menial tasks to give its human users more time and energy to focus on the really important stuff (whatever that may be). Knowing human nature, there’s a worrying notion that this may compel people instead to be lazy and even stupid, but that’s not important right now.
What helps AI do many jobs is its advanced image and speech recognition abilities, which enables things like real-time translation and advanced personalization. It can help offer recommendations to customers and even resolve simple issues.
There’s a lot AI can do, and more will come as the technology improves, but there remain things it can’t do so well right now.
Have you ever asked ChatGPT to tell you a joke? Here, I’ll demonstrate:
It’s not bad, that’s for sure, but you can probably see how it could be better. “Handling complaints” clearly connects with “customer service rep,” but it doesn’t really fit the main setup and punchline.
Worse yet, the good part about the joke isn’t even original. I’ve definitely heard that scarecrow joke before, probably on a Laffy Taffy wrapper.
When it comes to humor, AI isn’t all that great. This gives us more insight into AI’s greatest limitations. It doesn’t quite understand us as humans on a deeper level. It lacks empathy and ingenuity, it can’t make moral judgements, and its understanding of context is limited at best.
These are all areas that you’ll still need humans to cover. Fortunately, the humans and the robots can work together to combine strengths and cover weaknesses.
AI as it stands is an incredibly useful tool in the hands of skilled people. It can even be used to enhance human connections with customers.
As mentioned before, one of the main uses of AI is to automate and accelerate some of the more boring tasks human employees once had to do. This frees up human employees to bring their greatest asset to the table: genuine interactions with other human beings.
Replacing customer service agents with AI right now is far from a good idea. The same goes for creatives such as artists and writers. Yes, robots like Midjourney and ChatGPT can crank out more creative content at a faster pace for a lower price, but let’s just say you get what you pay for.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen plenty of bad art and bad writing out there created by real human beings. Suffice it to say, those are the creatives to whom AI is the biggest threat. For those capable of producing work at a higher level of quality, this isn’t the case.
When you get right down to it, precious few people want to read articles or stories written by a chatbot or see uninspired, often grotesque pictures created by an art bot. Even if they can’t point out structural flaws in the content, they’ll know deep down that a certain je ne sais quoi is missing.
That’s in large part because AI content is derivative by nature. All it can really do is replicate patterns it detects in text and pictures. Not only does this often produce mediocre results, it could potentially become a serious ethical concern once the law catches up to it.
If AI isn’t replacing CS agents and artists, perhaps it will replace language interpreters. Real-time translation does their work faster than they ever could, right?
Not necessarily. AI can do some very impressive things when it comes to real-time translation, but as mentioned before, it has very little understanding of context and personal sensibilities. An interpreter’s job goes beyond verbatim translation. They must also get across context, subtext, and cultural aspects of the language. If this weren’t the case, Google Translate would have taken their jobs years ago.
The truth is this technology right now is far more useful than it is threatening. Creatives and designers can use chatbots for research and art bots for reference material. Interpreters can use translators to speed up the tedious part of their job and focus on the part where the stakes are higher.
I still have reservations about diving headfirst into the world of AI. Still, it seems to be an inevitable part of our future, one we’ll want to use to our advantage rather than run and hide from.
Fostering the AI and human connection is the best move for businesses and individuals right now. This symbiosis will allow AI to improve efficiency while humans prioritize innovation and empathy. Everybody wins!
What does Continuant have to do with all this? Our UC and contact center partners offer solutions that leverage AI to enhance communication and collaboration.
