Artificial Intelligence is making its way into more and more facets of running a successful organization. Even roles that once seemed impossible for a robot to take on, like creative services, are beginning to use AI for everyday tasks. If you’ve been thinking about choosing AI over personnel when filling your next role, consider these points before making the jump.
-
Customer Service Frustrations
Customer service roles are a popular way organizations are utilizing AI. You can customize the chatbot dialogue to make interactions more authentic, so how could you go wrong?
We all know how it goes wrong: the bot continues to answer questions incorrectly because the keywords don’t exactly match your help documents. Customers have to go through several levels of robots to ask a simple question about their order. Users repeat their problem again and again for each new service level when a human could have answered quickly from the beginning.
Depending on the size of your company, this may be a risk you’re willing to take. But for small businesses, outsourcing customer service to AI could damage the reputation you are building and lead to customer dissatisfaction. -
Limited Functions
Companies may also consider choosing AI over personnel to fill assistant roles as functionality improves. However, this actually limits the flexibility of the role. Instead of having a single human assistant who can adapt to the challenges of the day and changing role requirements, you may need several tools to perform the tasks, and you will still have to double-check for accuracy.
While AI could arrange your calendar to make everything fit, great (human) assistants factor in the demands of the specific day when scheduling. They may anticipate a meeting going longer because of the topic and rely on the intuitive communication to make decisions. Though it may be tempting to fill an assistant role with AI, you can trust a human to make the call-backs, plan events, and schedule appropriate meetings.
-
Working with Incorrect Data
The true benefit of AI is in the repetitive, tedious, data-driven tasks common in specific departments. While AI will not make human errors, the possibility of incorrect data cannot be overstated. The AI outcomes are only as good as the data that enters the system. If a human doesn’t look over the numbers, there’s no one to catch when something just doesn’t feel right.
-
Lack of Personal Connection
Artificial Intelligence has started to creep into marketing roles. While choosing AI over personnel seems like a huge time saver, don’t forget the importance of emotion and psychology when making online sales. These tools may never pick up on the true motivations of your buyers or prospects, leaving valuable information on the table.
-
Exposure to New Employees
When you want to switch to an AI role, don’t forget the value of those entry-level jobs that you will most likely eliminate. While these roles are repetitive, they bring in recent graduates with new ideas and a willingness to grow with the company. Access to trained employees will decrease as those beginner roles are filled with robots instead of humans.
Some publications point out the potential for increased laziness on the human side as we begin to rely on robots for all the easy tasks. They ask the question: “Will we start to rely on AI for decisions we can only make ourselves? Will we underestimate the time it takes for a human to complete a project? Will we set unrealistic expectations for a job that only humans can do?”
Only humans can strategize and look at a problem from all angles, including the sides without much data. So, the more roles we fill with robots, the fewer humans we have to make the strategic decisions we need to make in the future.
Wrapping Up
If your primary concern when considering choosing AI over personnel is the commitment and cost of a new full-time employee, consider working with a staffing agency. We can source temporary contractors to fill a need for a short time, or full-time employees who can grow alongside your organization. Consider other options before eliminating a role within your company and outsourcing it to AI. Connect with us today to get started.
