Not long ago, Artificial Intelligence was nothing more than a favorite topic of sci-fi authors and Hollywood screenwriters.
But since we’ve all been inundated by the same lines of thinking on social media and in news headlines. “One day, AI will take over the world.” “AI is going to take over all our jobs.”
Now cut to 2023: AI allows you to translate anything from your imagination into images and text.
While everyone’s asking what comes next: Is it Virtual Reality? Is it Augmented Reality? Autonomous vehicles? Crypto? Web3? I think it’s safe to say that Generative AI is the most exciting development since the rise of mobile and cloud.
In only one month, Generative AI was more than a little busy:
- Midjourney released version 5 of their commercial product.
- Microsoft launched Microsoft 365 Copilot an AI-powered assistant for work.
- OpenAI released GPT-4
- Anthropic launched Claude, a ChatGPT alternative.
And if you’ve spent any time on LinkedIn lately, you’ve no doubt seen a barrage of carousels on ChatGPT for “creating a job description” “writing personalized emails to candidates,”. The list goes on…
They all claim that AI can supercharge HR, with less headcount. So, while the jury is still out on whether Generative AI will make us all redundant or make our lives easier — one huge question still remains:
Will AI matter to us in the world of HR?
Well, the long and short of it is: Yes, it absolutely will.
AI 🤝 HR: Everything we know so far
IDC's Future of Work study predicted that in 2023, 60% of big businesses worldwide would use AI-powered tools to support the complete employee lifecycle experience, and by 2024, 80% will use AI/ML for hiring, firing, and training.
A few years back, there was even a story about Amazon using algorithms to fire people! Talk about not using your superpowers for good 🤷
Another survey by Eightfold showed that 78% of HR leaders were already using AI across essential HR functions like employee records management and 43% planned to use AI for performance management.
And get this, 92% of these leaders say they’ll use AI even more in the future 🤯
But, it wasn’t always this way…
Traditionally, HR was a “paper-pusher” function, with limited emphasis on data-driven decision-making. The hiring process, performance reviews, and offer decisions all rely heavily on manual effort.
Software for HR was bought as an after-thought if any budget remained after meeting the demands of Marketing or Sales (...or any other GTM function).
The pandemic, remote work, the creator economy, and trends like "The Great Resignation" and "Quiet Quitting" shifted power to people — leaving organizations to reevaluate priorities.
AKA, HR had to catch up to the evolving market and the needs of its most important asset: Its People.
Cut to 2023, Human Resources has a big seat at the table, and executives prioritize improving performance and engagement outcomes. Data-backed performance review process is the need of the hour.
Efficient and sophisticated software is necessary to meet these changing demands. And AI is more than up for the job.
And now for your reading pleasure, here's a recap of HR and AI’s shared history so far ❤️
🗓️ 2015
- Hirevue added an AI assessment service (machine learning) to its video interview software. The goal: to analyze the interviewee's facial expressions, tone, and choice of words to assess whether they were a good fit. For example, whether you use "I" or "we" in a question about teamwork was a point that the ML-powered screening tool would note with 100% precision.
🗓️ 2016
- Pymetrics was used to assess candidates' personalities, intelligence, and risk-taking abilities through neuroscientific games. Giants like Unilever use it in their recruitment process.
IMO - recruitment via AI is a tricky one, as it can literally take the human out of hiring and may be heavily biased (and also easier to game) if not done right. Since AI learns from past successful hires, it's more likely to keep choosing the same kind of candidates, and limiting diversity in the process.
- Amber the EX chatbot was an outcome of a conversation with HR leaders at a tech conference. They were talking about how to measure employee sentiment and take action on it. And then, as if by magic (well, actually by the power of AI), Amber was born.
In 2021 it also became the first EX platform to be powered by GPT-3
And you know it's good when ex-President & CEO of GE Healthcare Terri Bresenham said, "Interacting with [Amber] is done so well, it feels human, it feels natural, it feels like I am talking to someone who is listening to me."
Amber's got skills! 😎
🗓️ 2017
- PepsiCo used Robot Vera to screen candidates for sales positions in their support centers in Russia. Other companies like L’Oréal and Raiffeisen Bank leveraged this Robot to scan profiles on job sites, reach out and interview them (yep - all done by a Robot!).
The result? Time and Cost of recruitment (often the two biggest challenges in large-scale blue-collar hiring) were cut by roughly one-third 🤯 - IBM introduced Watson Recruitment an AI tool to help companies identify and hire the best talent.
🗓️ 2018
- AllyO created Ally, an AI recruiter that used NLP and ML to help Hilton screen thousands of candidates' profiles for hiring in the US, completing 93% of conversations within an hour and increasing weekly job offers by 83%.
🗓️ 2021
- LinkedIn Skills Path employed a skill-based approach to recruiting backed by AI for familiar apparel brands like GAP and Ralph Lauren.
The collaboration between AI and HR is STILL in its honeymoon phase, and I’m honestly super excited to see “where this goes…”, especially with the hottest new entrant to this mix…
🥁GPT-4
Let's talk about GPT, shall we?
This baby is a powerhouse for getting things done, especially the latest version — GPT-4. It has applications across the entire employee journey from finding the right candidate to saying goodbye when they move on to greener pastures. It’s literally a Swiss Army Knife for HR profs.
But, before we get all excited about its endless possibilities, let's take a step back and make sure we're protected from its risks. Safety first, people leaders!
Mind your step: What to watch for?
Even though ChatGPT is pretty amazing, it's still incredibly new and untested. Very recently, Samsung exposed itself to risk after employees shared confidential information via ChatGPT prompts. Obviously, there are opportunities and there are risks. And we’d be wise to consider them both.
So, I had a chat with Varun Puri — Chief Product Officer at inFeedo — and we came up with the 7 Key Points to remember when using this cutting-edge technology:
- AI Ethics: Stay up to date with AI ethics. Marry them with company core values to ensure nothing is compromised.
- PII Data: Do not expose PII data to AI models. Protect our individual right to freedom.
- Education: Educate teams and customers about the right to privacy, compliance, etc. Encourage them to embrace these models and tools, but make sure they're mindful when using, testing, and experimenting with them.
- Testing: Be sure to test any new system thoroughly before deployment. Once you're confident it's working as intended, start with a slow and steady rollout.
- Use Cases: Don't blindly follow and rush to implement new systems. Understand use cases first. Avoid vanity.
- Fact-checking: Always double-check your sources when generating information. To ensure accuracy, use reliable search engines like Google or Bing for news and facts. And don't forget – while AI can definitely boost your productivity, it's still up to you to verify the information it generates!
- Feedback: Create a process that allows customers and users to easily report any inaccuracies they encounter, and make sure to take swift action to fix them.
That's it for today! 😅
In the next edition, I'll dive into 7 use cases for GPT that have the potential to change the way HR functions — for the better.