With the large-scale use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) expected to contribute $15.7trn to the global economy by 2030, it is no surprise that more organisations are looking to integrate AI into their daily operations. What impact will AI have on business schools and how can we better prepare ourselves for the future?
The question was addressed by Prof David De Cremer, Provost’s Chair and Founder of the Centre on AI Technology for Humankind (AiTH) at NUS Business School, during a recent keynote speech at the AACSB Asia Pacific Conference 2021. We caught up with him to find out more.
Where do you see the opportunities for AI in the business school of the future?
When most people think of AI, they picture machines that can think and make decisions just like a human. The reality is quite the opposite. Most AI applications in the world today are designed for a very specific purpose, which is why AI is said to have a narrow sense of intelligence, and still needs humans to identify the problem for them.
One of the most obvious benefits of AI that people see today is automation, which can help achieve greater efficiency by replacing human effort with the work of machines. Think of a chatbot that can be programmed to respond to students’ queries. This provides greater convenience to the student because they can get the answers to their most urgent questions at any time of the day or night, while at the same time it helps free up the time of the human operator to attend to more sophisticated queries.
Another area with tremendous potential is the use of data to create business and financial value. Business schools are blessed with first-hand access to a wealth of data about their students. This data can be harnessed to help us understand students’ needs better, and to offer even more personalised and transformative learning experiences. It can also help us to reach out more efficiently to prospective students and help match the right student to the right course.
But there is a flip side to AI. With the rising influence of Big Tech and the resulting narrative focusing on techno-centric solutions for almost every organisational process, we run the risk of creating workplaces in which intelligent technologies primarily serve the interests of the developers and owners of technology, and undermine or even harm the goals, creativity and performance of their human end-users.
At AiTH, we champion a behavioural, human-centred approach where AI is designed and employed in ways that are experienced as genuinely supporting and complementing the work of humans. If AI can help free us from managerial tasks – rather than increase that load – to spend more quality time on teaching and research, that is a goal I’m sure we can all identify with!
What are some of the challenges organisations typically face in integrating intelligent technologies into their operations?
Hardly anyone disputes the vital role that intelligent technologies play in value creation. Yet many organisations do not put enough thought into what kind of value they want to create and why, much less on how technology can help. Contrary to popular belief, technology is not a plug-and-play solution revealing immediate results. Simply introducing more technology as it fits with digital transformation trends does not guarantee that it will create more value for your organisation, with its own specific values and goals.
The first challenge is in identifying what technology is going to mean for your organisation – how will it help reach your objectives and purpose, how will it be implemented, what changes to the management structure can be expected, and finally how is it going to complement the work of your human employees. It pays to start with a business plan and to have a clear custom-made roadmap to follow.
Another common problem is the over-centralisation of IT and other supporting business service centres, which can lead to poor service quality to the people on the ground. This creates issues by divorcing the implemented technological solutions from the experience of the end-user and leads to poorly developed feedback channels that will undermine the efficiency of the digital workplace in the long term. Top-down solutions that are non-consultative create an overall sense of disengagement and even resistance, eventually resulting in the digital transformation process failing to create value. In fact, as more intelligent technologies enter schools and organisations, it helps to have a flatter communication culture where feedback is easily exchanged and data-sharing happens across hierarchical levels.
The best-laid plans can fall apart if employees are resistant to change, and one of the biggest obstacles can be achieving the right organisational culture. Care must be taken to effectively communicate with employees so that they understand the reasons for the change, and how it is going to make their lives better. From that perspective, promoting flatter hierarchies in the new tech era is needed to encourage dialogue and collaboration.
What role do leaders play in this journey?
Leaders need to set the vision and lead by example. If you want to instil a tech-driven culture, the onus is on leaders to walk the talk and demonstrate the importance they attach to the use of intelligent technologies when making decisions and pursuing the company’s strategy. This sends a strong message to the rest of the organisation, makes the tech-driven changes meaningful, and provides an example for others to follow.
In my book “Leadership by Algorithm” I identify two types of leaders that will be needed in the future: Inclusive leaders who can build the bridge between tech and business experts and purpose-driven leaders who can provide meaning and direction in making the transition from the old to the new style of working. In business schools, one of our core functions is to create knowledge. How can technology help us deliver on that promise? The solution can only be reached through close collaboration between the developers of the technologies we see as relevant and the end-users – the faculty.
In the corporate world, I observe a strong tendency for leaders to take a step back once AI enters an organisation, and to cede some of their authority and responsibility to technology experts, or worse to the technology itself. It creates confusing workplaces where tech people are seen as the ones making sense of the company data so they can tell leaders what the best strategy should be. Realising that these tech experts are not trained in business makes it unrealistic that they understand the purpose and value the company wants to create with its stakeholders. That is a leadership responsibility and one that can only be conducted by humans – not machines! A machine will not be able to tell you how to approach your workers with compassion, how to be diplomatic in communicating change, or how to set a vision that is going to be consistent with your organisational goals and values. These tasks fall to the leader and that is why a human-centred approach to leadership is more vital now than ever.
How does this dovetail with your work at AITH?
Society is fast approaching a crossroads, with the emergence of a ‘machine-centred’ work culture where worker needs and concerns are being overshadowed by the relentless push for optimisation and efficiency. There is a real threat of a looming tech crisis, fuelled by the same structural and behavioural factors that led to the global financial crisis of 2008.
At AiTH we hope to spark conversations on what responsible, human-centred AI should look like in the context of a humane society. We believe that AI should not simply replace human labour in the workplace or act as an advisor or manager with the narrowly-defined goal of making employees perform better to optimise productivity levels. AI is a tool that should be used to augment human abilities in ways that optimises human-centred goals and motivations across a wider variety of dimensions than only efficiency. This will allow AI to achieve its potential where it is harnessed to serve humankind and help us to live fuller and more rewarding lives that ultimately will lead to sustainable efficiency.
On 8 December, we will be hosting a virtual seminar that will include the global launch of our manifesto called “The Road to a Human-Centred Digital Society: Opportunities, Challenges, and Responsibilities for Humans in the Age of Machines”. The manifesto cements many of the principles we have outlined and provides recommendations for the way forward.