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My own views on AI and how we as HR professionals embrace this rapidly emerging and ever -expanding area of technology have crystallized in recent months.
However, I decided to ask the more prominent and notorious AI platforms – OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft Bing’s Copilot among them – for their views on how AI can be used in HR and people management contexts. Interestingly, the responses – and more importantly, the way the responses were presented – simply confirmed some of my own concerns, especially when it comes to using AI to communicate.
Yes, these large-language model applications returned the results of my query seamlessly and quickly, presenting lots of detail in a clear, well-structured format. It’s efficient, for sure. But ChatGPT’s response was almost identical to Copilot’s.
Both presented nice, multi-step guides outlining the various aspects of HR in which AI can “streamline processes” and “enhance employee experiences,” from recruitment and talent acquisition to performance management and administration.
If an employee wants support with an issue, they should be able to do that face-to-face, with their manager or an HR representative, not via a chat bot
Now there is, of course, an emerging skillset around how to prompt AI, how you ask it to present its response, and emerging schools of thought around being prescriptive and specific, plus more. But even as you experiment further, the output remains robotic, and the language formulaic, void of any emotion. It’s just not very…human.
That might change in time and as the technology continues its relentless development. But for now, it only confirmed some of my own reservations and reaffirmed my own belief: It is fundamental that we remain human-centric to get the very best out of our people, develop our talent, and fulfil our duty of care.
AI can’t replace human-to-human interaction and active communication
It is a basic requirement of HR professionals to equip managers with the skills necessary to have one-to-one conversations, lead for greater team collaboration, hire the best people, and build an understanding of the needs of their people.
Given the results of my mini experiment above, AI in its current form cannot be a substitute for this. When used in this way, there is potential for it to impact negatively on people’s lives. The work we undertake must be respectful, emotionally in tune and cognizant of diversity. People come across challenges in their lives: bereavement, illness, financial hardship.
Businesses go through good times, when we should celebrate success, and tough times, when there are challenging conversations to be had. We must not rely on AI to script the conversations around these challenges when they occur, or to manage these processes. If an employee wants support with an issue, they should be able to do that face-to-face, with their manager or an HR representative, not via a chat bot.
Lately, I’ve seen some performance reviews emerging that been written by an AI platform, littered with words those individuals wouldn’t normally use. We need to be mindful, on both the part of the employee and the line manager. This cannot be reflective of genuine performance – not can it support continual development.
HR Grapevine recently reported how recruiters at the UK’s ‘Big Four’ firms are cracking down on job candidates using AI during the hiring process, amid concerns of jobseekers having an unfair advantage. This is another example where we must exercise caution, and heighten our screening of candidates in a human-centric way.
Equally, using AI to filter out applicants is just as risky. We are people, hiring people. We must not stray from that, else we’ll pay for it if candidates do not have the right cultural fit or have used AI to over-exaggerate their skills.
AI for more efficient HR management
The target of my reservation, though, is only limited to how and where we as HR professionals use and apply AI technology. I believe, more generally, that there is much to be gained from integrating it into our function.
At Crown Worldwide Group, our purpose is to make it simpler to live, work, and do business anywhere in the world. This is multi-faceted: We want to make it simpler for our customers, but to achieve that, we need to make it simpler for ourselves. AI is a golden opportunity to supercharge processes which we are already in the process of digitalizing at Crown, using new tools to speed up administrative tasks and process or analyze data. For instance, we are introducing the use of Microsoft’s AI tools to record meeting minutes and actions, keeping us organized and more efficient.
The convergence of HR and AI must be managed with caution, and we must not lose sight of our fundamental purpose, which is to ensure people and the business they work for can thrive
In a global, multi-lingual environment, AI also affords us the chance to translate internal communications. English is not a first language for over 70% of our workforce, but careful use of AI here is offering us the chance to expand reach, develop culture, and build greater understanding of things happening across our businesses. Similarly, it can help with translating job descriptions and other recruitment material, as we increasingly employ more local people to roles once held by ex-patriates.
HR and AI: a relationship built on caution
The convergence of HR and AI must be managed with caution, and we must not lose sight of our fundamental purpose, which is to ensure people and the business they work for can thrive.
Whatever we do, we need to do it with respect, understanding and emotional intelligence, balancing efficiency and humanity. In their current state, many AI tools – and their robotic outputs – take us too far from that path. Let’s capitalize on its ability to “streamline processes” freeing us up to “enhance the employee experience” and become even more human-centric.
