STEP LOGIC: Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Employees?

Irina Grishina, Deputy General Director for Human Resources at STEP LOGIC, shared with the news portal Now.ru her opinion on whether the employees may be replaced with artificial intelligence (AI).

Irina Grishina, Deputy General Director for Human Resources at STEP LOGIC

According to a study by consulting company BCG, a third of Russians are afraid of losing their jobs due to the development of artificial intelligence. Should we have a fear of AI? In which industries can it replace a person in our country in the near future?

"I would consider the development of AI rather in a positive way—it will release many employees from routine operations and will allow them concentrating on more creative and complex tasks that require non-standard decisions.

Workers engaged in monotonous work, whose activities are defined by a strict framework (law, script, procedure, etc.), should consider professional retraining. For example, one large bank has cut 450 lawyers who have been preparing claims on a template, replacing them with AI. Many banks use virtual operators based on AI systems and speech recognition technologies in call centres, where conversations with clients are strictly regulated by the procedure. However, not a single organisation has yet been able to completely replace employees with robots.

My recommendations to current students are to learn their favourite occupation, use creativity and develop non-standard thinking, and consider AI as an assistant. Current specialists are on friendly terms with technology, not afraid to expand their professional knowledge and they constantly learn new skills. A successful and talented employee will always be demanded. For example, HR specialists predicted professional death to recruiters a couple of years ago, saying that they would be replaced by specialised software, big data technology and AI, but it is still difficult to imagine the recruitment process in a large IT integrator without any human participation. Although optimisation and automation of operating activities, of course, facilitate the daily routine and make it possible to pay more attention to planning and strategic tasks.

We live in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and, as we know, none of the revolutions has yet reduced the number of workplaces. On the contrary, thanks to the progress and development of new technologies, new specialties and areas of activity appeared, thus opening up a lot of development opportunities and prospects for people."

Source: Seichas.ru