A revolution that many employees don’t even notice

Berlin. The ruthless robots in The Matrix, the rebellious cyber brain Hal 9000 in “A Space Odyssey” or the semi-human like Ava in “Ex Machina” — For decades, popular culture has been concerned with the question of how the use of artificial intelligence (AI) can affect humanity. is changing. But radical perceptions may mask the fact that the use of artificial intelligence has long reached everyday life and especially in the world of work: as researchers at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) found, Many workers don’t even notice that they have to deal with AI systems frequently.

Scientists have discovered a startling discrepancy: Only 20 percent of those questioned in the annually surveyed SOEP panel report in the past using AI in the workplace. On the other hand, if you ask employees about using speech, image, or text recognition systems, 45 percent have experience with that — and all of these systems are based on artificial intelligence.

AI means more than just smart robots

“When thinking about AI, many people think of intelligent robots in the distant future – AI systems already in use in many companies that reduce employee performance on tasks,” says study author Oliver Giering of the Technical University of Berlin. “There has always been collaboration between humans and AI,” co-author Alexandra Fedorets (DIW) also asserts.

From the research team’s point of view, it’s not so much about machines having their own consciousness as about so-called weak artificial intelligence: software and algorithms that learn when you interact with people. “Accountants are a prime example: They are used to taking and recording invoices and organizing payments,” Fedorets says. Today, artificial intelligence can take care of the verification process and pay small bills automatically.

Don’t worry about jobs

“The accountant still has to take care of complex decisions, such as long-term financial planning,” emphasizes the technology expert. The fact that people fall into unemployment thanks to their artificial colleagues is, in their view, a manageable risk: “In the past, technological progress has never led to massive unemployment,” Fedorets says.

What is causing her more headaches is that, similar to the latest study, there appears to be little awareness of how to work with AI. A risk because employees may really miss out on new technologies. “People should learn how to collaborate with AI and how to benefit from it,” Fedorets says.

Learn to collaborate with AI

Specifically, this means recognizing any weaknesses in the software being used: when does image recognition software fail particularly often? When does speech recognition reach its limits? And under what search terms do not deliver it Artificial intelligence based assistance system Useful knowledge? Fedorets emphasizes that “it is necessary to understand what technology can do and what its disadvantages are.”

According to her, what exactly is needed varies from job to job. “It is important that employees have a certain curiosity about possibilities. Lifelong learning is also becoming more important,” says the researcher. The prerequisite for this, of course, is that one actively engages with the new possibilities and their limitations at all.

It’s also about sharing

However, from the perspective of the DIW team, this also calls for politics: When AI has been used in companies for a long time, it is often accompanied by discussions between employees and managers. With them, employees carry bad cards if they don’t understand artificial intelligence, warns Stefan Kirchner, also one of the study’s authors.

“So that people can help shape digitalization in their workplace, companies and politicians in particular should promote more training that promotes the efficient use of artificial intelligence,” demands the digitalization specialist from TU Berlin.