Companies and organisations have a responsibility to ensure technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) does not turn workplaces hostile to its workers.
This was the caution from Minister of Labour, Social Security and the Third Sector Colin Jordan as he addressed the Human Resource Management Association of Barbados (HRMAB) biennial People Development Conference at Hilton Barbados Resort yesterday.
Jordan said while AI could quickly process large amounts of information, it could not replace the human element.
“It cannot replace the uniquely human qualities that drive productive workplaces. It cannot replace sentience or human creativity. It cannot replace emotional intelligence, even though it can mimic it. It cannot replace empathy, and it cannot replace judgement, even though it can mimic it quite well.
“This is why people development is more important today than it has ever been. Because we are in a different world, and the world is not just a world with people. It is people and technology, people interacting with technology, people making decisions about how to use technology.
“As technology continues to evolve, HR professionals will serve as the bridge between technological innovation, its adoption and use, and humanity,” he said.
The two-day conference, being held under the theme Workforce 2030: Ready Or Not, is focusing on the role of human resource departments in a modern world of artificial intelligence.
HRMAB president Tisha Peters said there were examples in the international world of businesses downsizing their HR departments in preference for AI, only to regret it later. However, she warned the audience that if their work could be done by a chatbot, then it should be no surprise if they were replaced.
“Technology will not replace people, but people who master technology will replace those who do not, and that includes all of us. Now you might sit back and think, well, that’s happening in Silicon Valley, it’s a US (United States) problem, but let’s talk about the Caribbean flight path, because the numbers here are a stark wake-up call.
“The Inter-American Development Bank recently released its flagship data on AI adoption in our region. The projections show that if our regional workforce successfully moves into expanding tech-driven roles, wages across Latin America and the Caribbean can rise by up to 5.3 per cent. But if our workers fail to transition, if they cannot adapt to these new digital demands, wages in the region are expected to plunge by up to 20 per cent over the next decade. Think about what that means for your family. Think about what that means for your staff and what it means for the economy,” Peters said. She added this then exposed the ultimate paradox where business leaders were complaining they could not find the skills and staff they needed to stay competitive, but were still looking to cut staff and replace them with automation instead of building those skills. “That’s not a technology flaw; that’s a failure on all our parts, and it’s a core HR problem,” she said.
Peters called for a fundamental shift in how talent was recruited.
“I regularly see job advertisements right here asking for ten years of experience in a digital world where people are coming out of school with stuff for two years. Technology that was invented three years ago, and people are still asking for ten years of working experience. We have to stop hiring exclusively for what people have done and start hiring for what they can learn.
“Look inside your organisation before you look out. The talent you so desperately need may be sitting right next to you,” she said. (CA)