Human-AI Cooperation

When following the news about the emerging Artificial Intelligence technologies, one contemplates the future possibilities of human workforce development. What will be the role of humans in an AI-filled marketplace? Will people sip cocktails on the beach while machines do most of the work? The right answer can be more rational: a hybrid workforce. Today, human-AI cooperation involves employees, AI software and virtual assistants in their work. In the future, we can expect that AI would handle more mundane tasks, while people will concentrate on parts that require more creativity and critical thinking.

Role of AI

Automate laborious tasks

AI technologies have changed the digital industry by enabling automation. As a result, various time-consuming tasks nowadays take only a few minutes to complete. For example, software developers have benefited from AI, particularly from AI APIS. An application programming interface is a type of software that can create connections between computer programs. APIs can save much time for software developers, as they would not need to develop a custom technology from zero. Instead, they need to find and use an already existing technology. In cases when AI technology is needed, AI APIs are also helpful for developers. AI APIs are APIs that can make a connection between AI technology and other software. An example can be an NSFW Images Classification API that can automate the task of a marketplace or e-commerce website developer by flagging all inappropriate content.

Interact with customers and employees

Enterprises have started integrating chatbots and voice assistants into their customer service quite recently. Even so, according to a Gartner report prediction, by 2021, 85% of customer interactions are expected to be managed without humans. Meanwhile, according to SalesForce, with the help of chatbots, 64% of human agents can work on more complex problems, while without chatbots, the number decreases to 50%. In addition to customer service, such virtual agents also assist employees by finding the needed information faster.

Extend our physical and cognitive capabilities

Machines can make complex calculations and analysis faster than humans. This ability can save much time and energy for managers, who usually need to make decisions fast and minimize risks. For instance, AI solutions are used in bank systems to detect financial fraud, which reduces the number of undetected cases and enables investigators to concentrate on more complex fraud detection. Similarly, machines also extend our physical capabilities, by handling repetitive, dangerous tasks and tasks requiring physical strength and flexibility in warehouses, laboratories, and factories. Human-AI cooperation of this kind can also ensure a larger scale of production, while employees can do the management.

Role of humans

Training the machines

Current AI technology industry needs skilled professionals to organize and provide the datasets and train the machine learning algorithms to perform a specific task. In particular, voice assistants such as Siri are trained using large numbers of datasets, including various voice samples. This is why Siri is able to understand different accents. Besides voice recognition, Natural Language Processing algorithms are also trained, so that voice assistants are able to understand the intent of your voice command. Interestingly, recently voice assistants are trained to have a “personality” and mimic human traits.

Intermediating

Besides training, humans will act as intermediaries between other people and machines. On the one hand, professionals will need to provide context for machines, which, for example, are not aware of the emotional factor of human behavior. On the other hand, there will be demand for professionals to explain the outcomes to others. Recently, AI technology is being used in analyzing thousands of medical research papers and extracting relevant information. Companies need specialists to clarify the details of such analysis processes.

Supporting proper use

Also, another role of humans in this cooperation is supporting the proper and safe use of AI technology. Notably, industrial technologies used in manufacturing need to be continuously sustained by specialists to ensure safe and flawless performance. Besides safety, humans ensure that AI systems are used ethically and comply with GDPR and similar ethical requirements.

Collaboration with AI is a way to augment human capabilities, and some industries and companies are benefiting from this already. Ultimately, more and more companies will embrace this advantage, and there will be a somewhat altered workforce that can concentrate on and solve more challenges.