The phrase “New Era of Business” immediately instills one thought in my head: Artificial Intelligence. AI, its well-known shortened version, has taken the world by storm in all aspects of human life, especially in what humans do best: business.
Business itself has been an integral component of human life and it now is simply one of the things we do best, but that might come to a halt as the creature named “AI” starts taking over.
AI is a monster we created ourselves; too tired to think, we made a being that thinks for itself.
That monster now threatens to engulf the entire essence of human intervention in business.
Let’s take the manufacturing sector as an example. So much of the human labour has been cut down due to AI and robots performing the same work in a much more efficient manner. According to a 2019 survey by Deloitte, a whopping 93% of companies have adopted AI in their manufacturing procedures.
Fig. AI usage in various aspects of business in Asia-Pacific
AI has made its way into the support functions of a business too, with recruiters using AI to filter candidates and admin using AI to streamline their processes and data.
AI, in this new era, has negated the use of humans to even produce services altogether. Let’s take music for example. A new trend of AI-generated music has taken the world of business by storm, making singers entirely redundant. Music in itself can now be made by a robot, something which was considered inherently human.
With various other services having been performed by AI, such as waiter at a restaurant, or delivery mail person being replaced by robots and drones, we truly see the rise of a new era altogether.
The aim of business is still to earn profits while serving society, but in this new day and age, it is being done in an entirely different manner. The question stands: which kind of product and service will the consumers accept readily? A one made by the human touch, or is the new and flashy AI, ready to deliver?
The opinion differs greatly, with employees and workers looking to AI to reduce their workload and streamline their processes while increasing efficiency and turnaround time, with about 61% agreeing so, while consumers look for the human factor in business, which has started to be negated by AI.
While the debate goes on, let’s conclude by talking about one of my greatest interests music. What makes music? Is it the combination of notes and rhythm, or the human factor and emotions attached to it? The music industry continues to go to war with the above facts.
Just as in the picture below, with an additional hand guiding humans to perform their work, the new era of business has adopted AI as a helping tool to success.
Yet, the question remains: just how long will this new era persist? Or will human arrogance and ego take over the robots that we created ourselves? Only time will tell.
– Neelima Dubey