Executives Not Inclined To Remove Humans From AI Decision-Making

Executives are nowhere near ready to put their enterprises on autopilot, and probably never will. That’s the word from a survey of 1,000 executives from around the globe, which finds 93% of business leaders believe it’s important for humans to have oversight of AI or machine learning when making significant decisions.

There are other concerns about AI at the top levels, the survey, commissioned by Workday and conducted in April and May of this year, shows. Close to eight in 10 executives (77%) are concerned about the timeliness or reliability of the underlying data that will potentially feed their AI systems. On top of that, only 29% said they are “very confident” that AI and machine learning are being applied ethically in business.

“AI and ML—a subset of AI—have long been on the horizon but benefits from their practical use have remained elusive due to difficulties related to existing software stacks, workflows, organizational cultures, and budgets,” the report’s authors state. “Many decision-makers lack direction and understanding as they attempt to envision, justify, deploy, and leverage AI and ML.”

The greatest high-level organizational risks of implementing AI and ML, as identified in the survey, include the following:

• Data security and privacy
• Concerns on accountability
• Inability to measure ROI
• Decision-making errors

And here’s the most telling stat, which suggests “you will learn to love AI or else:” Nearly three-quarters (73%) of business leaders are feeling pressure to implement AI at their organizations, but the vast majority are wary of giving up too much decision-making power.

Perhaps this fear of losing control is justified, and will motivate executives to keep humans within any AI decisioning processes.

Jobs are another concern. More than half feel there will be disruptions —potentially negative — to their employees’ jobs. The executives are evenly split on this question — 45% believe AI and ML will benefit workers, augmenting workloads and creating new career paths. Another 43% are more cautious, warning that AI and ML will replace some tasks, causing some unemployment among workers. A segment, 12%, say that AI and ML will replace humans completely.

AI may have the potential to take away or usurp job roles, but at the same time, increase demand for AI-building skills. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents said their organization lacks the skills to fully implement AI and ML, and an even slightly higher percentage (76%) said their own knowledge of AI and ML applications needs improvement.

The study’s authors recommend some courses of action:

• Ensure AI is built on a high-quality data foundation. A total of 77% “are concerned that their organization’s data is neither timely nor reliable enough to use with AI and ML.”
• Overcome the skills gap. At least 80% “say that AI and ML help employees at their company work more efficiently and make better decisions. However, 68% say that AI and ML are not accessible at their organization.”
• Establish clear use cases and a strategy to move quickly. “Almost everyone feels pressure to move quickly with AI, and that pressure mostly comes from the top. Interestingly, however, the motivation for the pressure varies.”

Executives are seeing business benefits from AI. At least 41% report they have seen better decision-making and next best action business insights, 38% have been able to automating business processes, and 35% say AI has played a role in reskilling or upskilling employees. More than one-third, 34%, say they have achieved higher levels of productivity.