AI is changing the workplace and gender bias is a distinct factor. (Photo by International Women’s Day)

“They have skills.”

That statement has been universally and historically viewed as a compliment to an employee, colleague or leader.

It still is, but now there is an asterisk to the statement. Looking forward with the influx of artificial intelligence and automation in the workplace, it may precede a path to worker replacement. Individuals need to know the value they offer beyond their skills, and that those skills are not automatically generated cheaper and more easily. And they need to surpass the AI gatekeepers and algorithms steeped in gender and racial bias.

“Individuals need to know the value they offer beyond their skills, and that those skills are not automatically generated cheaper and more easily. And they need to surpass the #AI gatekeepers and algorithms steeped in gender and racial #bias.”

A recent report from Gartner estimates that “automation could result in a $15 trillion benefit to the global economy by 2030. Executive leaders apply earnings-driven automation to improve productivity.”

The report continues, “Automation can reduce the volume of talent needed, but it may also exacerbate skills mismatches (such as the lack of data and analytics talent), which are already an issue. Earnings-driven automation may also warrant upskilling and reskilling existing employees.”

It is essential then, that every employee, leader, entrepreneur and creative know what skills they have, the value they offer and how what they do is irreplaceable by AI— and also how AI influences the decisions behind the scenes.

“It is essential that every employee, #leader, #entrepreneur and creative know what skills they have, the value they offer and how what they do is irreplaceable by AI— and also how #AI influences the decisions behind the scenes. ”

According to a “recent a global Deloitte survey of more than 1,200 professionals, organizations are increasingly experimenting with what they hope is a better way.”

Close to 90% of executives say skills are important for defining work, and 90% of executives report they are actively experimenting with skills-based approaches, that include AI.

“Sixty-one percent of business executives say new technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence (AI) that require new skills will be a primary driver of their organization adopting a skills-based approach,” Deloitte reports.

And there is a disconnect from the workforce and leadership, and concerns of bias that affect employees identifying as women.

While 59% of workers in the survey say their organization values job experience and degrees over skills, 36% of executives say the same.

The World Economic Forum recently released a report from its annual meeting on how to use AI responsibly as a leader and entrepreneur, including transparency in data sources, explanations of AI decisions, allowing employees to own their data and sharing the data openly.

“The @Wef recently released a report from its annual meeting on how to use #AI responsibly as a #leader and #entrepreneur.”

It is also not an equitable and just swap of human for bot.

“When people’s livelihoods are on the line, the AI used to influence those lives must be as open, transparent and ethical as possible. Tales of AI-gone-bad are, unfortunately, all too common. Amazon had to cancel a recruitment AI model due to bias against women. More recently, concerns have been raised that hiring and screening algorithms discriminate against people with disabilities.”

In a report in Harvard Business School, findings from a research team led by Himabindu Lakkaraju, assistant professor of business administration, found that fair-ranking algorithms are effective, but only to a point: “While women are elevated in job applicant searches compared to regular algorithms, fair rankings are limited by the responses of employers who still express biases based on the type of job and the profiles of the candidates being considered. In other words, a hiring manager’s bias toward hiring men for certain jobs can still creep in.”

“In a report in @HarvardHBS, findings from a research team led by Himabindu Lakkaraju, assistant professor of business administration, found that fair-ranking #algorithms are effective, but only to a point. #AI #businesstech”

Lakkaraju writes, “Our analysis revealed that fair-ranking algorithms can be helpful in increasing the number of underrepresented candidates selected. However, their effectiveness is dampened in those job contexts where employers have a persistent gender preference.”

Aside from the bias and discrimination inherent in AI-generated decisions, great news for businesses is that AI can increase efficiency. The bad news is AI can eradicate the need for some workers.

“Aside from the bias and #discrimination inherent in AI-generated decisions, great news for businesses is that #AI can increase efficiency. The bad news is AI can eradicate the need for some workers. #workplace ”

In a story with half of the content produced by AI with the program Lex, Entrepreneur reports, “AI is a tool that can help you do more with less. It can help create content and perform other tasks in a fraction of the time it would otherwise take, making your business more agile and efficient. So if you are looking for ways to make your business more competitive, AI is a tool worth considering. It will allow you to move faster and generate more revenue.”

Additionally, Entrepreneur reports, “The biggest benefit of AI for entrepreneurs is its ability to offer other efficiencies in creating content. AI can provide insights into consumer behavior, spot trends and create customized marketing messages in a fraction of the time it would take a human.”

Is this the world that George Jetson was inhabiting in the 1960s futuristic cartoon franchise? While most people in the workforce were not alive or watching that show back then, it is crucial to note how generative AI, such as the new language model ChatGPT, can benefit workplaces, but also the caveats for its use.

In a recent McKinsey commentary, authors Michael Chui, Roger Roberts, and Lareina Yee write, “For us and many executives we’ve spoken to recently, entering one prompt into ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, was all it took to see the power of generative AI. In the first five days of its release, more than a million users logged into the platform to experience it for themselves. “

They write, “Products like ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot, as well as the underlying AI models that power such systems (Stable Diffusion, DALL·E 2, GPT-3, to name a few), are taking technology into realms once thought to be reserved for humans. With generative AI, computers can now arguably exhibit creativity. They can produce original content in response to queries, drawing from data they’ve ingested and interactions with users. They can develop blogs, sketch package designs, write computer code, or even theorize on the reason for a production error.”

Babson College Professor Thomas Davenport and Nitin Mittal, head of U.S. artificial intelligence growth at Deloitte, authors of the upcoming book, All In on AI: How Smart Companies Win Big With Artificial Intelligence, tell Fast Company there are many positives for businesses coming from AI. “These universal content machines have many potential applications in business, and today marketing applications are among the most common uses of generative AI. In the future, there is potential for generative AI to make an impact in health care and life sciences—to make diagnoses, for example, or find new cures for disease.”

Still, the gender, racial and language biases affecting the workplace and hiring in particular are very real.

“Despite the positives for businesses coming from #AI, the gender, racial and language #biases affecting the #workplace and hiring in particular are very real. ”

Tina Tallon, an assistant professor of artificial intelligence in the arts in the University of Florida’s School of Music, tells WUSF: “Many people aren’t aware of the fact that a lot of first round sifting through CVs and resumes actually uses a lot of AI tools. And so the AI is trained on various types of words to look for and other types of datasets that might disproportionately favor someone of a specific background over someone else.”

Tallon refers to this as algorithmic justice—or injustice.

“Another example – many immigration exams actually require some sort of language proficiency. There was a case in Australia where a native English speaker from either Ireland or Scotland had come and taken an [AI] English language proficiency test for her visa in Australia. And it said that her language proficiency was not up to par,” Tallon says.

There is also a danger in gender representation from AI generated images.

“There is also a danger in gender representation from #AI generated images. #genderbias”

PC Mag reports, “How we see gender even when we're portraying the inherently genderlessness of AI is illuminating. But lately, we’ve had the chance to see how AI comprehends gender. Images from Lensa AI have been showing up in social media feeds, and the divide in how it portrays men and women is stark. The app uses AI to generate portraits, which it calls Magic Avatars, from user-submitted photos. Setting aside the enormous issue of AI apps appropriating the work of human artists(Opens in a new window) and writers, Lensa has come under fire for the overly sexualized way it depicts women.”

“This work essentially says you can’t design these algorithms in isolation,” Lakkaraju writes in HBS. “You’ve also got to think about people’s behavior and incorporate other strategies to achieve a better solution in the end.”

Take The Lead Leadership Tip Of the Week:

“Automation can reduce the volume of talent needed, but it may also exacerbate skills mismatches (such as the lack of data and analytics talent), which are already an issue.”— Lorri Perri, Gartner

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About the Author

Michele Weldon is editorial director of Take The Lead, an award-winning author, journalist, emerita faculty in journalism at Northwestern University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project. @micheleweldon www.micheleweldon.com