AI and Automation: Casper Wilstrup’s Top Five Tips For Harnessing AI Technology to Propel People Operations.
Casper Wilstrup, a global expert in explainable, trustworthy AI, shares his Top Five Tips For Harnessing AI Technology to Propel People Operations.
1. Define your objective.
When you’re implementing an AI, the first question you want to ask yourself is, “What do I want to achieve?” It’s fun and trendy to use AI in a piecemeal capacity, but if you’re preparing to implement an AI to augment or automate a task, start with defining what you want to achieve. Do you want to be more efficient? Produce a higher-quality product or service? Generate more profits? Provide a better user experience? These things are all certainly related, but setting a primary goal with your implementation will determine to a large degree whether you achieve your goal.
2. Involve your people.
AI is reshaping work for over 1.3 billion people worldwide. And it’s scary for workers to think about how or when their job will change – will they need training or a completely new career path? To get buy-in from employees who will work with or delegate work to an AI, it’s important to involve them as early as possible. Involving them with the implementation process and educating them about AI will develop their trust and understanding of AI and improve the rate of adoption.
3. Know your data.
As the saying goes: “Garbage in, garbage out!” But with AI applications, there is an additional layer of data bias that could result in a veritable dumpster fire. Before starting a project, know where your data comes from, understand any biases or how your data might be skewed. If you don’t consider these possibilities, it may contribute to a system that behaves in ways that are hard to defend. Biased results – especially with personal or sensitive data – will ultimately erode the trust in your AI and possibly your reputation as a company.
4. Be customer-centric.
Even if you aren’t customer-facing, the ultimate beneficiary of your work is your customers. Especially in these early days of AI, you need to be particularly mindful to establish trust – and the people whose trust you need the most are your customers. No matter where in the business you implement AI (directly in product or service delivery, or indirectly in organizational processes), consider the impact on your customers. Implementation of AI (especially a poor one!) will have significant consequences on how they perceive your products or services and you as a company.
5. Choose trustworthy AI.
One of the most important criteria for humans in trusting machines is transparency. If you can see under the hood – understand what is actually happening – that builds trust. When there are so many types of AI to choose from, make sure to choose a trustworthy AI: An AI where you can see and study the reasons for why the system made a recommendation or decided on a certain action. In these early days of AI, and especially in business processes that are critical and complex, you need an AI you can understand, believe, and trust.
