If you want to supercharge the effectiveness of your workforce, your IT capabilities, your organization and society as a whole, AI is the way forward

While, historically, the rise of AI automation was often depicted as a threat to jobs, or a replacement for human labor that would render jobs obsolete, in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a game-changer but, more than that, it’s a lifesaver.

Take the current Covid pandemic. AI has been used to help with diagnosis, public health, clinical decision-making and therapeutics, and has realized its potential to greatly augment existing human efforts.

AI also played a big part in the paradigm shift a lot of companies underwent during the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizations across the world went digital and remote, which opened the door for innovation: new and ambitious ways to adjust to the new normal. Enter AI.

AI is not something companies or their employees should fear. On the contrary, it gives them superpowers. It improves peoples’ lives, creates a buzz and enables people to become the very best version of themselves.

In itself, AI is just a tool. At Superlinear, we believe in human-centered AI, which has the unique ability to create buy-in from employees, generate added value and help create a better future.

AI - Intelligent Automation?

The very word ‘automation’ makes a lot of people conjure up images of dozens of robots doing identical tasks at a factory conveyor belt, but AI is not about automating the mechanical, but rather, automating tasks that require some level of intelligence.

AI doesn’t always need to solve ground-breaking or extremely complex tasks, but the automation of repetitive and non-creative tasks can bring immeasurable value, way beyond simply the financials. Using Covid as an example again, as well as many other diseases, AI can help lab scientists count bacteria used to develop life-saving vaccines quicker. On an even more practical note, it can automate the process of question answering to create value for domestic companies and foreign investors.

The crucial benefit of this automation is that it liberates your employees from the time-consuming tasks, so they can focus their energy on engaging and creative work. This is why AI won’t replace people - conversely, according to a WEF study, it will actually create 98 million jobs by 2025 - but rather free them and empower them.

A reciprocal learning environment

AI also has the potential to help, train and educate people. Think of AI as a colleague with a different approach to yours, who can give you new perspectives, ideas, and insights. Not only is it something you can learn from, but AI can also learn from you too, and both human and technology can improve. This is why we believe that AI should be human-centered at its core, made by people, for people.

The symbiotic relationship between AI and humans means it’s even more important to communicate to your employees how AI will help them upon implementation. This will involve looking at how it fits within the company and works in practice. And that company can be any company in any sector because AI is not industry-specific. Any industry can benefit from human-centered AI to help with myriad tasks, such as:

• Developing smarter products and services

• Making business processes and functions (such as accounts, sales and HR) more intelligent

• Automating manufacturing processes

What you choose to use AI for will depend on the key value drivers of your organization. Check out how our Fast Discover Framework can help you find the right AI opportunities, tailored to your specific business challenges.

A holistic approach

Once you’ve decided to take the plunge, in order to maximize the impact of AI, you need a user-centric, agile, risk-aware and multidisciplinary approach. When building AI tools, it is very important to:

• Get actionable feedback very quickly

• Understand end users wants and needs

• Collect feedback throughout the project

This is why we love our skateboard approach - A car gets you from A to B quickly, but takes a very long time to make. On the other hand, building a skateboard first allows you to start to move very quickly and to learn fast from the end-users, using this knowledge to upgrade the skateboard on every sprint.

Harness transformative power

Ultimately, human-centered AI will allow your employees to free up time to do rewarding, creative, complex tasks, making their jobs easier and more enjoyable and enabling them to be more productive and more successful. These superhumans with enhanced capabilities, working alongside and learning from the AI, will have a maximum impact all across the organization, creating business value, which leads to growth, not only for your company but for society as a whole.

Businesses that don’t capitalize on the transformative power of AI risk being left behind, so don’t be afraid. Be superhuman.