As the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on businesses around the world, it’s clear that many companies are accelerating the push for AI tools that can keep their employees safer and more connected — while also keeping their customers happier and more satisfied. It’s essential, however, that in the rush for AI adoption, business leaders take the time to consider the human factor in AI adoption. After all, humans are the ones who must be willing to use the technology if it’s going to be successful.
Let’s roll back for a moment. Even without the coronavirus emergency, there are two potential “problem areas” in any AI rollout. One is with the AI itself—how was it organized? Did it play well with other technologies in your stack? Was it created to scale well across your enterprise? Was it set up to nab the correct data? Were you able to find talented people to manage the AI once it was implemented? All of these are incredibly challenging issues and can cause almost any AI project to fall flat.
Still, tech strategy is not the only potential issue with AI adoption. The other is the adoption side itself—how well employees are able to adapt to the new technology in the real working world. How was the tech rolled out? How well were employees trained? Do they understand how it will impact them—and their role—moving forward? Do they believe it will be of true benefit to the customers and themselves? All of these issues are just as important as the hardware that goes into an AI rollout. Still, historically, this is where many companies seem to drop the ball. A 2019 report from the Harvard Business Review showed that just 8 percent of surveyed executives had put practices in place that would support widespread adoption of AI. Where does that lead? Low rates of adoption—and likely, lots of anxiety among employees.
In a time when employees are already working with anxiety due to the uncertainty of how coronavirus will impact their families and careers, it’s imperative that companies rolling out AI do so with great care in ensuring a clear adoption plan—one that takes employees and the real world into account. Because there is a push now to roll AI out even more quickly, however, it’s likely that the human side of AI development is going to be missed. To ensure a successful AI development process, consider the following.
Clearly, pandemic preparedness is going to demand a surge in AI deployment. AI can help make nearly any job more remote and reduce the health risks of person-to-person interaction. At the same time, it’s true that some essential jobs—cashiers, service attendants, etc.—could be clearly automated away in the name of making people safe. Without clear leadership, your employees could be experiencing a lot of fear about not just the virus but their future. And leadership is not a skill where AI leads the way. It’s a human function that relies on you—someone to plan and implement AI in a way that allows your people to work safely.
Futurum Research provides industry research and analysis. These columns are for educational purposes only and should not be considered in any way investment advice.
The original version of this article was first published on Forbes.
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