Are We Losing The Human Touch With Artificial Intelligence!

With the evolution and global adoption of technological solutions, society is changing faster than most businesses can naturally adapt.

A 2008 report shows that the companies which are adaptive to the digital transformations are more profitable and have high market valuations than those that are not.

In this era of Digital Darwinism, recruiters also need to adapt to technological changes to succeed. One such technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking the recruitment world by storm.

Its use is expanding and saving precious hours and energy of talented recruiters. However, with its advancements, AI has also introduced many risks and pitfalls.

Why is it Important to Compare Automated activities with Human operations?

Whether it’s AI or the human touch, both can never replace each other. They might be interdependent or independent but equally important factors for the current digital age.

AI can’t think but humans can. For a better operation of AI, human ideas are very crucial. With the perennial development of AI, it becomes very important to maintain an effective balance between manual and automated work.

Regarding the recruitment sector, AI has streamlined the one-way conversations and video interviews of the candidates. It has enabled the recruiters to interview candidates remotely. On the contrary, human touch in businesses is more about two-way conversations, leading to better relationships with the customers and job candidates.

Artificial Intelligence is Gaining Importance in the Recruitment Sector

Recruiting firms employ machine learning and artificial intelligence to automate various tasks such as screening resumes, sourcing and shortlisting candidates.

Some AI innovations in recruiting are the intelligent screening software that automates resume screening, recruiter chatbots that engage candidates in real-time, and digitized interviews that help assess a candidate’s relevance.

Data in the resumes is augmented to train the software to find the perfect candidate. Since no emotions are involved, it removes most kinds of bias that impede recruiting, making it one of the reasons such software is highly used in companies like Google and Microsoft. It also minimizes the high volume tasks of the recruiters and enables them to focus more on building relationships with the employees and applicants.

Artificial Intelligence Poses Certain Risks

1. Taking Over of the Jobs that Require Traditional Intelligence

AI has been known to streamline most operations, one way by pulling and evaluating the information in real-time and helping in decision making. As per many corporate research firms, AI is on its way to replace humans in jobs requiring mundane and repeatable tasks, especially in the assembly line and accounting sectors.

A Hubspot report showed the following jobs to have the highest chances of being taken over by Artificial Intelligence:

Telemarketing

Compensation Managers

Bookkeeping Clerks

Receptionists

Proofreaders

Couriers

Market Research Analysts

Computer Support Specialists

Retail Salespeople

Advertising Salespeople

While such hard skills might get overrun by AI, soft skills (a USP of humans) will experience much more demand in the market. A machine that employs AI will always lack emotional intelligence. So even if automation adds ease and convenience, it would never be able to replicate empathy, compassion, and persuasion.

One such example can be understood by imagining a hiring process. A major aspect of recruiting is making the candidate comfortable. If machines were to get involved, not only would candidates find it uncomfortable to interact with a machine but it might also impact their performance.

2. Can lead to Partiality in Screening during Rare situations

AI tools are designed in a way that they detect and analyze patterns. Such tools for recruitment guarantee to diminish bias by overlooking irrelevant data, like age, ethnic background or gender in most cases.

However, if the data is biased or the algorithm is not programmed to eliminate definite patterns, then it might screen the candidate database in a partial manner. A similar phenomenon happened in Amazon’s case whose AI was biased against women.

Human Fate in the wake of AI Revolution

Logic and creativity will remain the most critical elements in most jobs, be it in the present or the future. Although AI can replicate human logic, it would be hard to emulate human creativity and artistic ability.

Contrary to the job insecurity that’s pervaded with AI adoption, global experts believe that automation would enhance the way humans work while creating a plethora of new jobs.

A PwC report predicted (via Guardian) that in the U.K. alone, AI would lead to the creation of 7.2 million jobs over the next twenty years. Similarly, a McKinsey report showed that more than 75% of companies surveyed “expected no net change in their workforce size as a result of implementing AI technologies and automation”

So, the concept of AI making human skills obsolete is debatable at most.

From a wise perspective, AI will enable recruiters to conduct proactive strategic hiring rather than wasting time in reactive backfilling. Recruiters will have to interview only those candidates suitable for the required job and possess the right qualifications for the same.

Therefore, while AI will surely bring a paradigm shift, it would hardly replace a human’s ability to think, invent and create. The Human touch will always be relevant, even in the era of artificial intelligence.