By: Joshua Finley

For lovers of cooking shows featuring celebrity chefs at Michelin-starred dining venues, the interplay between sous-chef and the star of the show can be both exciting and educational. It’s an essential collaboration. A chef designs the menu, infuses creativity, and makes the final touches to a dish, while the sous chef handles preparation, organization, and efficiency. 

Collaboration between AI and human beings offers a unique synergy. Humans contribute creativity, vision, and strategy, while AI assists with data analysis and enhances processing speed, creating a broad array of possibilities.

It’s a collaboration that’s essential, given the rapid adoption of AI technology and its potential impact on business. The AI market is projected to reach a jaw-dropping $407 billion by 2027, experiencing substantial growth from its estimated $86.9 billion revenue in 2022.

However, wrangling value from AI/Human collaboration is going to require new mindsets, skills and approaches. 

Humans Partnering with AI

Humans play three critical roles ensuring AI fulfills its potential to enhance efficiencies and productivity involves training machines, explaining their actions, and promoting responsible use to prevent harm.

Training AI

Machines need large data sets to learn tasks like translation, medical diagnosis, and financial recommendations, and they also require training in human interaction. Leading tech companies have expert teams for this, as seen in the development of Cortana, Siri, and Alexa, where trainers crafted personalities to match brand values. Start-ups like Koko (which provides free mental health support for youth) are further advancing AI by teaching assistants to show empathy and offer personalized responses.

Explaining AI Outputs

The algorithms that enable AI to produce useful outputs are by and large a mystery to those who use the technology. Experts are needed to explain these outputs to users, and how the data provided by AI can be understood and leveraged to provide a competitive advantage. 

Sustaining AI Efforts

Sustainers ensure AI operates safely and responsibly. Safety engineers, for instance, anticipate risks and prevent harm from AI systems, like ensuring industrial robots don’t injure humans or prevent self-driving cars from engaging in vehicular mayhem.

AI Partnering with People

AI-powered machines are advancing human abilities in three ways. Firstly by enhancing cognitive processes, secondly by streamlining interactions with customers and employees, and lastly by augmenting physical capabilities through robotics.

Enhancing Creativity

The relationship between human beings and AI is a two-way street. AI elevates decision-making and fosters creativity. Autodesk’s Dreamcatcher, a cloud-based 3D design tool allows designers to input design goals like functionality, material type, manufacturing methods, and cost, and Dreamcatcher then adjusts the designs, offering thousands of unique ideas based on specific inputs. This allows designers to focus on aesthetics while AI handles data-driven tasks.

AI-Driven Efficiency

AI transforms how businesses engage with employees and customers. Delta Airlines uses generative AI in its  “Ask Delta” chatbot to help customers with check-ins, baggage tracking, and flight searches. The chatbot provides fast, detailed responses, resulting in a 20% decrease in call center volume.

Enhancing Physical Performance with AI

AI-driven robots, known as “cobots,” work alongside humans by handling repetitive and strenuous tasks, allowing people to concentrate on more complex work. Bajaj Auto, one of the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturers, was the first company in India to implement cobots. The company has since introduced 100 cobots into its production facilities to aid with machine tending and assembly tasks.

Crystal Ball Gazing

History is filled with revolutionary technologies that reshape the world. The telephone, the printing press, and even the invention of the wheel all changed human society and enhanced productivity and efficiency. 

At each stage of the evolution of technology, there have been those who railed against progress. The telephone would remove the need for human interaction, the printing press quickly came under fire from the Church for its democratization of access to the bible, and it’s almost certain that the inventors of the wheel would have faced complaints from organized labor about potential job losses.

There are also concerns about job losses caused by AI, however, an examination of forecasts on the impact of AI tells a different story. According to World Economic Forum research, AI is projected to create around 97 million new jobs, potentially countering workforce displacement concerns.

AI is here to stay, and the future impact of the technology will depend on how users, including businesses, leverage the power of algorithms. New skills such as prompt engineering, the process where you guide generative artificial intelligence (generative AI) solutions to generate desired outputs, data security and data analysis are going to drive business efficiency.

At the same time, AI will revolutionize the startup industry, freeing up valuable human resources to do what they do best – think of creative solutions to real-world challenges, and allow the founders to focus on getting to market.

There is no doubt that questions related to AI security, data privacy and ethical use of the technology need to be answered. However, weighing up the pros and cons of AI use indicates that humankind will be a net benefactor of a collaborative approach to AI use.

AI has become part of our business and personal lives, and users have enthusiastically embraced large language models such as ChatGPT. In the 5 days after its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT surpassed 1 million users, and that was only a glimpse into how revolutionary generative AI would become. Businesses are increasingly adopting AI technologies, with projections suggesting substantial growth in the global AI market in the coming years.

Collaboration between AI and human beings is essential for users leveraging the unparalleled power of AI to deliver data-driven insights at speed. It remains our responsibility to see that the result is as satisfying as dinner at a five-star restaurant, or as disappointing as rest stop sushi.

Janice Robinson Burns is a Human Capital Strategist and Advisor, specializing in optimizing employee performance through new and emerging technologies. For more insights into Janice’s thought leadership in AI, visit her LinkedIn page or website.

Published by: Holy Minoza