Artificial intelligence and smart robots are becoming increasingly capable in the workplace. Here we look at what this means for humans and how creating the right blended workforce for the future is key to success.

1. HUMAN VS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:
WHY FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE IS
KEY TO SUCCESS

2. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Artificial intelligence and smart robots are becoming increasingly capable in
the workplace. Here we look at what this means for humans and how creating
the right blended workforce for the future is key to success.
HUMAN VS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: WHY FINDING THE
RIGHT BALANCE IS KEY TO SUCCESS

3. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Welcome to the age of blended workforces, where intelligent machines and humans
combine to accelerate business success.
In short, now that we have increasingly capable robots and artificial intelligence (AI)
systems – capable of taking on tasks that were previously the sole domain of humans – it’s
easier than ever for organizations to leverage intelligent machines. But this leaves
employers with some major questions to answer: how do we find the right balance
between intelligent machines and human intelligence? What roles should be given over to
machines? And which roles are best suited to humans?

4. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
THE FIRST STEP: UNDERSTANDING WHAT MACHINES CAN DO
Particularly in traditional companies, business leaders often aren’t up to speed on the sheer
range of tasks that today’s AIs and intelligent robots can take on. (In fact, I spend a lot of time
educating executives in this area.) This knowledge is key to finding the right balance between
humans and machines in your organization.
Some of the things AIs and AI-enabled robots can do are pretty mind-blowing. For example,
AIs can now read, write, see, speak and even understand emotions. While this sounds
impressive, AIs are, for the most part, taking one type of input (be it visual data, written data,
or whatever) and generating a particular output, as programmed. Once you understand this
basic input-to-output idea, there’s potential to automate all sorts of tasks that follow this same
model, such as scanning security videos for suspicious behavior, moderating content online,
answering simple customer inquiries, entering data, and maintaining bookkeeping records, and
so on.

5. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
As Stanford professor Andrew NG puts it, “If a typical person can do a
mental task with less than one second of thought, we can probably
automate it using AI either now or in the near future.” In other words,
human jobs that are built on some sort of input-to-output scenario are very
likely to be automated in the future.

6. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO HUMAN WORKERS?
In light of this incoming wave of automation, the work of humans will be affected in three
key ways:
 Displacement of human jobs. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs
Report 2020, 85 million jobs may be displaced by automation by 2025 – truly a
staggering figure. Naturally, this creates a lot of fear around automation. But while many
jobs will be displaced, it’s important to note that even more jobs will be augmented or
created because of technology adoption. Which brings us to…

7. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
 Augmentation of human jobs. Here, many jobs will be changed in some way by
automation. According to the WEF, by 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by
humans and machines will be equal. This means employers must find the perfect
between those tasks done by humans and those done by machines. To put it another
we need to ensure the work given to machines is best suited to machines, and the work
given to humans is best suited to humans (so humans don’t end up feeling like
 Addition of new human jobs. Finally, new jobs will arise that previously did not exist.
While the WEF estimates that 85 million jobs may be displaced, it also estimates that 97
million new roles may emerge – roles that are better adapted to the new division of
between humans and machines. These new human roles are likely to rely on a slightly
different set of skills and capabilities, compared to those skills that have traditionally
prioritized in the past.

8. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
All this means employers have a responsibility to equip their workforces
with the skills needed for the fourth industrial revolution. What sort of skills
are we talking about? Well, with machines taking on more of the easily
automated input-to-output work, it’s the inherently human skills that will
become more and more valuable in the workplace. Things like empathy,
creativity, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, communication, and
complex decision making, to name just a few.

9. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Stitch Fix is a fashion subscription box that uses AI to pick out clothes that customers
will love. But the company doesn’t just rely on AI to do this; it’s the perfect blend of
AI and human stylists that makes the service so impressive.
At Stitch Fix, machines do the initial work of crunching through enormous amounts of
data and evaluating the likelihood of a customer loving a particular style, based on
the customer’s information, preferences and previous choices. Then a human stylist
finalizes the selection and writes a personal note advising the client on how to style
the items.
‘RESPONSIBLE AUTOMATION’ IN PRACTICE

10. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
For me, this is a fantastic example of getting the best out of both machines and humans, and
it’s something many organizations could learn from. This perfect symbiosis between intelligent
machines and capable humans is referred to by automation pioneers Faethm as “responsible
automation.” Faethm is on a mission to ensure automation is done in a way that doesn’t leave
humans behind, and the company’s approach involves breaking jobs down into task fractions
to see what can and can’t be automated. Done this way, automation – at least according to
Faethm – doesn’t have to result in job losses. Instead, humans transition to more rewarding
tasks.
The key takeaway here is that organizations must start to identify the tasks that are better
suited to machines so that those tasks can be automated, leaving humans to do the more
complex, rewarding work. And on top of this, employers must equip their workforces with the
skills that will be essential for success in the 21st century.

11. © 2021 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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Trends That are Redefining Organizations, which has just won the Business
Book of the Year 2022 award, and my new book Future Skills: The 20 skills and
competencies everyone needs to succeed in a digital world.
And of course, you can follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube and
explore my website for more content.

12. © 2021 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker,
futurist, and a strategic business & technology advisor to governments and
companies. He helps organisations improve their business performance, use data
more intelligently, and understand the implications of new technologies such as
artificial intelligence, big data, blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is
a frequent contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for
Forbes. Every day Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers
and shares content that reaches millions of readers.

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