The year 2030 is mentioned consistently as the date when machines will become equally smart as humans. Some people believe that this development will hail the dawn of a new era for humanity. While others believe it’ll be the greatest threat to mankind ever – even worse than nuclear weapons. Who is right is anyone’s best guess. But as always, technology is neutral. It’s what we do with it that determines its real consequences. Yet a legitimate question is: “What should we expect from Artificial Intelligence?”
Evidently, computers are more accurate than humans. They can test, analyse, compare and store massive amounts of data simultaneously. They work tirelessly and don’t need coffee breaks, they don’t get burn-outs and never complain. And in our demanding 24x7 society, this is something to value. If it was only to relief humans from this burden. Yet, till now we still have to tell these machines exactly what to do, how to do it and when. And this is where Artificial Intelligence should bring relief. AI or ‘Deep Learning Systems’ are supposed to be intelligent enough to determine themselves what to do and come up with new and innovative ways to do them. They may discover correlations and build connections that we humans never noticed.
And these qualities will also come in handy when building the adaptive and resilient organisations, we need in the near future. SWARM Organisations require smart interaction systems that find, connect and administer cooperating people, and harvest the Swarm Intelligence they create. AI systems may also improve the interaction with external stakeholders and create competitive advantages for all. Yet there is one area of concern and that is, that while AI may become equally intelligent as humans – it will be void of Human Empathy.
If there is one thing that has become exuberantly clear over the last 25 years, it is that any form of human interaction, cooperation and organisation requires a high level of Emotional Intelligence, rather than just pure rational smartness, in order to be respected, successful and valued. And intelligent people will gladly spell this out to anyone who wants to know. You may have an IQ of 250, but if you lack the Human Empathy to convey the message, nothing will happen. Therefore, the assumption that Artificial Intelligence will solve all our (organisation) problems is as plausible as the assumption that all humans worldwide simultaneously change into fully rational non-emotional beings.
And there can be no such thing as Artificial Empathy.
Evert Bleijenberg MBA
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