We all know that as time moves on, the world continues to make amazing technological breakthroughs. New technology can be worrisome, especially if it is unregulated, untested, and is relatively unknown. One recent technological breakthrough that has been taking the world by storm is the emergence of artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence or AI, as defined by Britannica is “the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.” AI in its most current form can answer questions at a high level and it may have big impacts in the workplace.

AI has the potential to be a very useful tool for your employees, and there is excitement brewing among employees to explore all of its uses. In a recent survey conducted by Workplace, 73% of workers “hope their company explores more AI implementation.” In the workplace, AI can assist with proofreading emails or documents, assisting with language generation for a wide range of business functions such as emails, policies, or communications, or to help with questions in the workplace that may be hard to answer. AI has the potential to help with productivity and efficiency of almost every aspect in most businesses. On the surface, the uses and possibilities for AI in the workplace seem to be endless. However, there are risks and unknowns to consider when determining if you will allow the use of AI in your workplace.

With it being a very new technology, there are not many laws or regulations in place around AI. When legislation comes to fruition around AI, it may change AI use in all aspects around the workplace. There are also ethical considerations, as the content that was used to “teach” the AI may have been taken from someone else’s content without their permission. Another big issue is accuracy. AI pulls from many different sources to answer the questions or provide the content that is asked of it and what it produces is not always accurate. According to a story by The Verge “CNET found errors in more than half of its AI-written stories” and they “issued corrections on 41 of the 77 stories the outlet published that were written using an AI tool.” With the potential for inaccuracies in the content produced by AI, it is very important to be cautious when deciding whether you will allow the use of AI in your workplace.

With all of the risks and potential benefits of adding AI to your workplace considered, now may be the best time for you and your team to discuss AI. You should be asking yourself several questions such as:

• Does my company need AI assistance?
• How can AI help my business and workforce?
• Where can I find AI tools?
• What are the risks of implementing AI or allowing my workforce to use AI tools?
• What will our company policy be around AI usage?
• If we are going to implement AI, what guidelines should we set on its use?

Deciding if AI is right for your company is not an easy question to answer and it is important to weigh the risks and rewards. No matter what your opinion is on artificial intelligence, now is the right time to have that conversation with your team, set policies around the field, and decide how you would like to move forward with this exciting and potentially troublesome technology.

 

 

This information does not constitute legal advice.