Apparently unsatisfied with beating the world’s top Go player, Google’s AI-powered Alpha computer has gone one better and seems to be creating its own layers of “learning” algorithms, as announced by CEO Sundar Pichai at Google’s I/O 2017 conference. Google’s AI has become its own creator, responding to new information and learning from mistakes. Writing its own code. [1]“We’re going to have to learn how to dance with the robots.”
Stowe Boyd – Embrace Today’s Work App Fragmentation
In the face of this (one of many) vivid illustration of machine superiority, we puny humans could be forgiven for questioning our value. What can humans do that computers can’t?
“The skills needed in the workforce are going to be less about IQ and a little bit more about EQ, because if you think about it, a lot of IQ knowledge is going to be available at our fingertips through… technologies that we have at our disposal.”
Deborah Henretta – Group President, Asia & Global Specialty Channel, Procter & Gamble
In 2014 when the Pew Research Center and Elon University asked experts whether AI and robotics would create more jobs than they would destroy, close to half (48%) of respondents believed more jobs would be lost than created.[2]
The future of human endeavour is in question.
Realistically, for most of us, this dystopian vision of Geoff from Accounts being replaced by C3PO seems pretty far off. But it does give rise to consideration of the very real need for our people and our teams to be able to invest in creative problem solving and innovation.
Every minute we spend recreating a lost document or deleting the 7th in a chain of “reply all” emails is a minute lost to new ideas and status-challenging concepts. Every unnecessary meeting is squashing our productive day further, until the only paths trodden are safe, tried & tested because taking risks and making unconventional connections is something no one has time for.
The reason we will be replaced by robots is because we act like robots, doing the same thing every day, happy to just get paid. We need more from life. Humans must be more creative, and long to be challenged. We are more than 1s and 0s.
“The knowledge worker needs next generation technology to drive next generation productivity and next generation business outcomes”
Tim Campos – Chief Information Officer at Facebook
One way to help your people embrace their unique human creative talents is to empower their ability to connect and collaborate. Another is to ensure mandatory work processes take the minimum amount of time and effort. A Digital Workplace can help with both of these outcomes, giving teams the technology to leverage the power and knowledge of employees and the platform to foster a collaborative culture. A Digital Workplace can do these things, a hastily launched and indifferently managed intranet cannot. Which does your organisation have?
“Technology can make us more human by freeing us to be more creative, but there’s more to being human than creativity. We have other qualities machines can’t match. They have instructions while we have purpose. Machines cannot dream…Humans can, and we will need our intelligent machines in order to turn our grandest dreams into reality. If we stop dreaming big dreams, if we stop looking for a greater purpose , then we may as well be machines ourselves .” [Garry Kasparov]
Take our free intranet assessment quiz for your personalised report and transform your intranet into a true Digital Workplace.
[1] http://www.iflscience.com/technology/google-ai-creating-own-ai/
[2] CMS Wire – How to Survive When the Robots Come For Your Job
http://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/how-to-survive-when-the-robots-come-for-your-job
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