Are robots really taking over? Are our jobs safe from a full technical turnover? The answers are more nuanced than you might think — especially as our relationship to technology and its range of capabilities continue to progress. Tom Davenport, author, professor, and expert on how computing is affecting society breaks down how AI is shaping the work we do. He also shares how our willingness to embrace AI is an important factor in determining its (and our own) potential.

Key Takeaways:

[1:56] Tom discusses what a workforce powered by information technology might look like, and whether our fears that AI is coming for our jobs are justified, or not.

[3:34] Tom is still a professor at Babson, but much of his work now focuses on how businesses are using the kind of data and analytics he fell in love with while at Harvard, and what AI might mean for jobs.

[5:58] Tom discusses what type of changes augmentation instigates. The only people who are likely to lose their jobs are those that refuse to work with AI.

[9:45] Will AI lead to a shortage of entry-level positions? Many companies do want entry-level people with years of experience and find themselves turning to AI for help, which may present challenges in competing with augmentation.

[14:27] While AI algorithms have the potential to make jobs more interesting, we shouldn’t take for granted that it will do those jobs well. It’s especially important for managers to know how the decisions to augment are made, and how it will affect things down the line.

[16:20] There still needs to be that human intervention to make sure we build it into the roles and responsibilities of managers, and we adapt to how things change to not make it even more biased or skewed.

[18:58] Tom believes that there are jobs that won’t be transformed by AI. His advice to entry-level workers is to make a binary decision whether you want to work with smart machines or not. If you don’t, you need to find some things AI can’t do yet, such as creativity or unstructured work.

[22:42] Tom and Jeanne discuss the worrisome aspect of AI dividing us on social media, and causing even more of a rift between people. Where they do see opportunity, is helping provide people with less expensive but still high-quality education, and access to high-level expertise in finance or health care. Having solid leadership and people in our government dedicated to fair and unbiased AI use could be quite beneficial in the future.

[27:01] We each must seize the opportunities and the responsibilities that come with AI providing us with a new and better world. The real opportunity of AI is whatever we make it.

Quotes:

• “AI may not be having the impacts many of us predicted a decade ago, but it is having real effects on the work we are doing.” - Jeanne
• “There’s no faster way to lose money than to have a bad algorithm in an automated decision platform.” - Tom
• “Access to high level expertise is very expensive and AI can make it not free, but a heck of a lot cheaper than it is now.” - Tom
• “The real impact of AI is whatever we all make it.” - Jeanne
• “AI may have a little bit of bias, but it is probably a lot less than humans do.” - Tom
• “I am about as unstructured as you get in my work process, and unstructured work is still one of the great niche areas where AI does not fit very well.” - Tom
• “We’re talking about algorithms that can inform our decision making, and as long as we think about them that way, we’ll get huge benefits from AI.” - Jeanne
• “We can recognize that there may be some pain, but it is the natural evolution of jobs. If we are ready to acknowledge that the world is constantly changing and we may have to change it, we will absorb those changes.” - Jeanne
• “The most important thing about AI is not to let it take charge.” — Jeanne
• “Bias is a huge opportunity in our world, and AI offers a huge opportunity to tackle it.” — Jeanne

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Mentioned:

Tom Davenport | The AI Advantage | Toyota Research Institute