Accessing the Subject of AI – Is it as complicated for HR as we’re given to believe?

This week Barry Phillips argues that AI can be simplified and is actually easy to understand.

Transcript

Hello Humans!

And welcome to the podcast that aims to summarise every week in five minutes or less an important AI issue relevant to the world of HR. My name is Barry Phillips.

This week I’m looking at the subject of AI itself.

There’s a huge amount of noise out there in the AI Airwaves. And sorting out the messages, key themes and the really need-to-knows can be difficult.

A reading of AI Linkedin posts can create a lot of confusion and my concern is that HR professionals, busy with many other things as well as AI, may take the view that accessing the subject is actually a lot more difficult than it really is.

So in five minutes or less here’s my attempt to explain how best to access the subject of AI.

First, see it as having three distinct components:

1.            Traditional or conventional AI – this is also called single-use AI, which is used to shorten or eliminate a process. Think of the robot on the assembly line or the spam filter in your Outlook moving rubbish email straight into a spam folder.

2.            GenAI – this was born in November 2022 when dear old baby ChatGPT first arrived on planet Earth, followed soon by version 4 that quickly got everyone excited not only about GenAI but its older sibling too.

3.            AI Agents – this is the stuff that’s built for workers to offload certain tasks to AI agents. In the old days AI Agents were built by coders. Today, software platforms are so good that just about every worker can build one. This is exciting because, let’s face it, workers themselves are best placed to identify an opportunity for an agent to assist them — so why shouldn’t they be permitted to build it too? Keep it all close and pally, why not.

What else do we need to know to access the subject?

First, AI is developing and improving at a startling rate. What didn’t work very well or didn’t impress six months ago now does. The rate of change is only going to get faster. We’re all going to have to speed up some more — and that’s just to stand still.

Second, the rollout or adoption of AI has been like nothing else ever witnessed in history. It’s been faster than the milling machines that Ned Ludd took such exception to. Faster than the railway roll-outs in the US and four times faster than the adoption of the internet. The AI rollout didn’t come from any one particular place — unlike the internet, which was an invention from the military. You might say AI came out of everyone’s pocket, featuring on many smartphones and giving the user access to so much more of it too.

Third and finally, remember this: AI is not some distant, looming thundercloud on the horizon. It’s already here and demanding of your attention.

So here’s my advice: don’t panic, don’t wait for the perfect moment, and for heaven’s sake don’t hand the whole thing over to the IT department and hope for the best. Start small, experiment, get your hands dirty — and get curious.

Because the truth is, the real risk for HR isn’t that AI takes our jobs. The real risk is that someone who understands AI… takes our influence.

That’s it — five minutes, three components, and one mission: stay curious, stay human, and maybe… stay just a little bit competitive with the robots.

And if all else fails, just remember: the AI Airwaves are loud, but so is the person who actually knows what they’re talking about.

Be that person.

Until next week bye for now