As HR leaders, the question that we need to ask is, what does it mean to elevate your HR function in an AI driven future, and what are the steps to get there.

IBM has developed Watson, an AI platform for business. Watson is a question-answering computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language, developed in IBM’s DeepQA project by a research team led by principal investigator David Ferrucci. IBM Watson is a prominent figure in the AI world today due to its analytics platform.

Watson has already helped launch a few running solutions showcasing the ability of cognitive computing technologies within the organisation. CogniPay is one of the great examples of a solution from IBM Watson that leverages the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning in HR context.

Essentially, what CogniPay does is it maps out a holistic view of an employee and provides insights to managers, acting as a cognitive decision support system. CogniPay is a more strategic HR solution in that it actually examines the data in providing a solution. Considering the individual’s skill set, their competitiveness in the market, compensation history, how crucial their current role is to the company objective, potential for future growth and many more. CogniPay is a more stringent approach towards compensation calculation.

Imagine what IBM Watson could do in the very near future. I wouldn’t be surprised if they can start analysing human emotions through video-like interviews, with a list of questionnaires designed to assist HR in anticipating talent retention drivers and issues.

What does an elevated approach to HR look like in the face of AI technologies?

First of all, it is to avoid the temptation to dumb down due to easy computer solutions. Like the future depicted in 2006 movie Idiocracy or the 2008 Pixar’s Wall-E, as computers becomes smarter, it can be tempting for humans to fall back into the comfort and shelter of all this technology. However as Dr. Alan Finkel, Chief Scientist for the Australian government puts it, we should resist this temptation to dumb down.

As computers become more and more powerful, it is important for humans to also grow in their understanding and intelligence. As of now, most studies agree that AI and machine learning will be best at specialist functions, on a greater level that will be way superior to humans due to the vast amount of data and resources that AI will have to get good.

Where AI falls short however, is with novelty and innovation that connects seemingly disparate concepts and ideas which is where humans can fill the spot. An article by Getting Smart on the future of human learning in a AI environment illustrates a very good picture of how we can elevate our roles.

This article appeared in Links International online.

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