How to enhance, not replace, yourself with workplace AI – Silicon Republic

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Artificial intelligence has the potential to alleviate much of the burdens of everyday working life, as long as you know where the limits lie.

Workplace AI tools can be a gamechanger in roles that depend on intricate, precise movements, large-scale research, unmanageable datasets, concise analytics and heightened organisation, among others. While the rhetoric that AI has the potential to eradicate or reduce your role is often used as a fear mongering technique, research suggests it could impact more than 800m jobs around the world.

With this in mind, it’s important to separate the exaggerated scenarios from the legitimate, meaning, while it is unlikely that a sci-fi robot is going to march in and steal your job right out from under you, it is possible that you could lose part or even all of your responsibilities to a human with advanced AI skills. So, how can you use AI to enhance your own capabilities, without replacing yourself with artificial intelligence? 

Upskill for a changing world

AI courses, such as inexpensive online programmes commonly sourced on websites such as Coursera, Udemy and Kaggle, allow professionals of all abilities to upskill in the AI field. Whether it is at a beginner, intermediate or advanced level, users can select the topics they would most like to cover and participate at a time convenient to them.

By ensuring that you are staying abreast of industry changes and that you have a working knowledge of advancements in the sector, you reduce the risk of becoming inadequately skilled or irrelevant in an environment defined by innovative transformation. 

Employers, as a means of encouraging learning and incorporating more AI elements into the working day, should enable access to AI-powered educational tools and training platforms. 

Don’t let AI outshine you

While AI is an immensely useful tool that can greatly reduce the amount of time and effort that goes into a project, don’t fall into a trap whereby the systems designed to help you in your work are actually more clued in than you are and better able to accomplish a given task. Basically, you should fully understand the task being completed by the AI model, how the AI system is achieving results and if the tool is inefficient how it can be replaced manually. 

Organisational AI can be an excellent tool when it comes to repetitive, mundane tasks that are important, but a drain on individual and company resources. By learning how to make time for tasks of a higher value, you may find that you have more time and energy to put towards actions that give you a greater sense of job satisfaction, or yield a higher reward. 

Applying AI to roles that require automation, a considerable amount of concentration and clinical precision enables employees to focus on aspects of the job that demand a human touch, for example customer-facing interactions or cross-collaborative work. 

Work on productivity levels

Arguably, one of the more useful aspects of AI is its ability to streamline time-related information so that an individual can make the most out of every minute they have at their disposal. AI-powered assistants can utilise data from workplace calendars and other productivity tools, to ensure up to date, real-time accuracy. 

Intelligent task management enables an employee to be organised and prepared, making them a valuable member of the team and an asset to the organisation they represent. It also ensures that their time is accounted for, reducing the likelihood of interruptions, excessive attempts at correspondence or infringements upon blocked off personal time. 

The best version of yourself

A major benefit to the incorporation of AI technologies into the workforce has undoubtedly been the impact it has had on employees living with a disability. Often people with conditions that affect their ability to work have been marginalised and refused access to the workplace based on a misconception that they aren’t in a position to meet expected standards.

If you are living with a disability, for example dyslexia or an audio/visual issue, AI technologies that correct grammar or provide alternative comprehension aids are an ideal way to ensure you can not only do your job, but can excel within it. 

Additionally, if you struggle with emotional intelligence, AI-powered e-learning platforms are a wonderful resource for those looking to expand upon soft skills, such as adaptability, communication and teamwork. 

Ultimately, we are entering into an era where there seems to be an AI tool for almost everything. So rather than waiting for AI, or someone more skilled in its use, to replace you, why not engage with AI as an ally and upskill, to make yourself indispensable? 

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