Artificial Intelligence as a HR Trend
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Artificial Intelligence as a HR trend
Introduction
According to Strohmeier & Piazza (2015), artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to mimic and think like human beings. The machines gain the capacity to take actions that will help in achieving a predetermined goal. The major goals of artificial intelligence are reasoning, perception, and learning. Simple and sophisticated algorithms are used in helping to frame simple and complex artificial tasks. Technology plays an important role in the application of this concept. The technology has been applied in different industries such as the health sector, entertainment, financial sector, and many other sectors. This paper will discuss the concept of Artificial intelligence as one of the major HR trends, with a specific focus on its application, history, its benefits, and demerits.
Historical Background of artificial Intelligence
The history of AI started with rumors, stories, and myths of artificial beings endowed with intelligence by the craftsmen. Classical philosophers who were trying to describe the process of human thinking are the ones who planted the seed of Artificial intelligence. The technology of artificial intelligence (AI) can be traced back to the year 1956, and the concept has become highly popular today due to the increased volumes of data, storage, enhancements in computer power, and advanced algorithms (Spector, 2006). It started with topics such as symbolic methods and problem-solving in the early 1950s. The process to actualize the idea started in a workshop held at Dartmouth College in the year 1956, where the attendees became the promoters of the idea. It was predicted that intelligent machines would come true within one generation from the workshop, and the initiators received billions of dollars as funding to make the idea a reality.
The implementation of the ideas took longer than expected, a situation that prompted the financiers to withdraw their financial support. The British and US government, at some point, stopped funding the research on Artificial Intelligence as the project seemed unsuccessful. Later the Japanese government came in during the 1980s to revive the project offering billions of dollars as financial support (Husbands, Harvey, Cliff & Miller,1997). The process again encountered another challenge as the investors became disillusioned by the absence of computer hardware. The idea became a reality in the twenty-first century when machine learning became successful. Since then, the technology has been applied in both industry and academia. Such early works created room for what we see today in the form of formal reasoning and automation in computers. The search systems and Decision Support systems are good examples of designs that are programmed to perform like human beings.
Application of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence has been applied in many sectors, as mentioned above. Common areas of successful application include autonomous vehicles, at creation, medical diagnosis, games, mathematical theorems, search engines, prediction, spam filtering, image recognition, online assistants, online advertisements, energy storage, and prediction of judicial decisions. In the field of healthcare, AI has been used in assisting doctors in carrying out their work. The use of AI in the determination of the accurate dosage can save health institutions much cost. According to an AI health review carried out in the year (2018), it is estimated that AI technology can save up to $16 billion of money. Robots are now used to execute surgeries successfully. According to Meera (2016), there is evidence of robots carrying out surgery operations better than human surgeons can do.
In the automotive industry today, we have self-driving vehicles. As of 2016, more than 30 automobile companies were using Artificial Intelligence to create self-driving cars. The technology has brought to live systems that help in preventing car collision, assist in-car navigation, mapping, lane changing, and braking. According to Burgess (2017), the UK government already passed legislation allowing the testing of self-driving trucks on the high ways. According to Davies (2015), the trucks are programmed with maps that provide sufficient information on the surrounding factors such as street lights and curb heights.
In the financial sector, financial institutions such as banks are using artificial intelligence to maintain bookkeeping, organize their operations, manage properties, and invest in stocks. According to Chapman and Lizette (2019), robots have been better predictors of trading competition than humans.
Cybersecurity has been a major challenge in the eve of technological advancement. Many businesses have been harmed in different ways, some losing important data and others experiencing financial attacks. Security companies have started using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial intelligence in protecting a business from such malicious damage. Companies such as SIEM solutions are using Artificial Intelligence to sort high risk and low-risk data. The technology, therefore, helps companies to focus on areas that are potential for cyberattacks in an organization. Examples of security systems using this technology include Malware, Denial of Service, among others.
Benefits and Demerits of Artificial Intelligence
Researchers have argued that Artificial Intelligence can also pose a great danger to the world (Bantas, n d). First, when Artificial Intelligence is programmed to do something devastating such as killing, the technology can be used as a weapon to execute mass casualties when it lands in the wrong hands. As nations would invest highly in the technology while making sure that they have superior AI weapons, there is a possibility that the tools would be made as highly complicated, thus risking a loss of control over the weapons by humans. Tegmark (n d) argues that with a great quest for strong Artificial Intelligence, designing smart AI systems is a continuous process that involves recursive self-improvement and would result in an intelligence explosion that leaves humans far behind the intelligent machines.
Benefits of Artificial technology on Human Resource
According to Sivathanu & Pillai (2018), artificial intelligence has created numerous opportunities for Human Resource functions. The use of AI has changed the way business operates. Today, the business can run self-service transactions, have easier access to policies and procedures, easier reporting, payroll preparation, recruit and acquire talents more easily. Corporate leaders use this technology to improve employee and customer experience. The technology is also highly useful in a wide range of decision making for management as it has the capacity to produce accurate information.
Some of the factors hindering the adoption of this technology for HR practices include financial barriers, talent gap, privacy concerns, maintenance problems, integration capabilities, and limited proven applications. According to Reilly (2018), more investments in AI can be justified by the many benefits the technology has on HR functions such as reducing the time spent on HR administrative work, easier recruitment and retention of employees, measurement of returns, reduction of bias and in decision making for HR.
In conclusion, the application of artificial intelligence has many benefits than disadvantages. Some application areas on HR includes self-service transactions, reporting, payroll, recruitment, team training, employee retention, and easier access to policies and procedures. Other areas of application include cybersecurity, automobile industry, health sector for medical diagnosis, gaming, development, and use of mathematical theorems, search engines, making predictions, spam filtering, image recognition, online assistants, online advertisements, energy storage and prediction of judicial decisions. Existing barriers to the application of this technology include financial barriers, talent gap, privacy concerns, maintenance problems, integration capabilities, and limited proven applications.
References
“10 Promising AI Applications in Health Care”. Harvard Business Review. 10 May 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
B.J. Copeland (2020). Artificial intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence
Bantas, H. Understanding Weizenbaum: The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 11). Reluctant Geek.
Burgess, Matt (24 August 2017). “The UK is about to Start Testing Self-Driving Truck Platoons”. Wired UK. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
Chapman, Lizette (7 January 2019). “Palantir once mocked the idea of salespeople. Now it’s hiring them”. latimes.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
Davies, Alex (5 May 2015). “World’s First Self-Driving Semi-Truck Hits the Road”. WIRED. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
Husbands, P., Harvey, I., Cliff, D., & Miller, G. (1997). Artificial evolution: A new path for artificial intelligence?. Brain and cognition, 34(1), 130-159.
Max Tegmark (n d). Benefits and Risks of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved from https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/?cn-reloaded=1
Reilly, P. (2018). The impact of artificial intelligence on the HR function.
Senthilingam, Meera (12 May 2016). “Are Autonomous Robots Your next Surgeons?”. CNN. Cable News Network. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
Sivathanu, B., & Pillai, R. (2018). Smart HR 4.0–how industry 4.0 is disrupting HR. Human Resource Management International Digest.
Spector, L. (2006). Evolution of artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence, 170(18), 1251-1253.
Strohmeier, S., & Piazza, F. (2015). Artificial intelligence techniques in human resource management—a conceptual exploration. In Intelligent techniques in engineering management (pp. 149-172). Springer, Cham.
References
“10 Promising AI Applications in Health Care”. Harvard Business Review. 10 May 2018. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
B.J. Copeland (2020). Artificial intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/technology/artificial-intelligence
Bantas, H. Understanding Weizenbaum: The Dangers of Artificial Intelligence (Vol. 11). Reluctant Geek.
Burgess, Matt (24 August 2017). “The UK is about to Start Testing Self-Driving Truck Platoons.” The Wired UK. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
Chapman, Lizette (7 January 2019). “Palantir once mocked the idea of salespeople. Now it’s hiring them”. latimes.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
Davies, Alex (5 May 2015). “World’s First Self-Driving Semi-Truck Hits the Road.” WIRED. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
Husbands, P., Harvey, I., Cliff, D., & Miller, G. (1997). Artificial evolution: A new path for artificial intelligence?. Brain and cognition, 34(1), 130-159.
Max Tegmark (n d). Benefits and Risks of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved from https://futureoflife.org/background/benefits-risks-of-artificial-intelligence/?cn-reloaded=1
Reilly, P. (2018). The impact of artificial intelligence on the HR function.
Senthilingam, Meera (12 May 2016). “Are Autonomous Robots Your next Surgeons?”. CNN. Cable News Network. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
Sivathanu, B., & Pillai, R. (2018). Smart HR 4.0–how industry 4.0 is disrupting HR. Human Resource Management International Digest.
Spector, L. (2006). Evolution of artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence, 170(18), 1251-1253.
Strohmeier, S., & Piazza, F. (2015). Artificial intelligence techniques in human resource management—a conceptual exploration. Intelligent techniques in engineering management (pp. 149-172). Springer, Cham.