The Intelligent Enterprise

Published on INFORMS OR/MS Today (Joseph Byrum)

Future of work: Strong AI and what it means for your job (and your company)

Those born today may not find the workplace of tomorrow recognizable once artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing take hold.

We’re familiar by now with the simple AI tools that run on the phone in our pocket, or through cloud server platforms offered by the likes of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google. These traditional computing systems are extremely powerful, but they offer only a glimmer of what’s possible with the devices that now exist mostly (but not entirely) in theory.

Quantum machines don’t follow the traditional model of neatly dividing all information into zeroes and ones. Instead, they are designed to store information not as one value or the other but as the combination of possibilities in what’s called a qubit. This framework is ideal for evaluating uncertainties in environments that don’t lend themselves to binary analysis, such as simulating the outcomes of real-world situations based on incomplete and often contradictory information.

If an algorithm can evaluate a near-infinite variety of outcomes for any given choice in a fraction of the time it would take to do so through conventional computing, expect a big jump in the capabilities of AI algorithms.

Is this a realistic possibility in our lifetime? One company recently announced a quantum computer that set the record for factoring prime numbers [1], and all the big players have declared quantum breakthroughs of their own [2]. If accurate, weak AI may very well be on the road to becoming strong AI.

Strengthen Weak AI

Weak AI refers to systems that are fast and effective at the singular task at hand – playing Jeopardy!, Go, poker, chess and other games with set rules. They’re quite amazing at what they do, but they have their limitations. “Strong” AI, on the other hand, uses machine intelligence that can cope with and adapt to new and unique situations by learning the rules as it goes, much like the human brain does.

What will the workplace look like in a future where strong AI exists, and machines are able to adapt intelligently to new and unique circumstances?

There are two views here. One is the vision of doom and gloom. We’ve seen it countless times in film series such as “The Matrix” where machines become so advanced that they enslave or destroy humanity. Or, just as bad, they automate every function of our lives, and humans are left with nothing to do.

We’ve already seen glimmers of the latter. When most people think of automation replacing jobs, they immediately think that blue collar work will be the first to go, given that robots have already replaced a lot of factory workers. However, white collar workers shouldn’t feel secure. Fancier professions like translating, writing and even lawyering have already seen competition from AI. This trend could even impact higher education.

Will college professors even be necessary if AI can work around-the-clock creating an interactive lesson plan specifically tailored to each student’s need – on a global scale – for an online university? This teaching machine would create custom lectures and participate in discussions designed to maximize educational outcomes for each and every student, as measured by continuous testing. For machine intelligence to succeed at a task like this, it would need a touch of creativity. And if machines are creative, pretty much the only jobs left for humans will be for the plumbers and electricians who keep things running.

A less dire – and more realistic – view of the future is that as AI systems grow stronger, we will come closer to achieving what I call the intelligent enterprise.

The Intelligent Enterprise

Let’s not assume that replacing every human is automatically the most optimal solution for every task. It is more accurate to say that humans are good at some things, and machines are better at others. The intelligent enterprise maximizes business efficiency by extracting the most from the human and the machine.

Getting rid of all humans makes no sense as a first step. Instead, weak AI systems can be used to enhance the functions likely to produce the most value. Ideally, you’d want to start at the CEO level by creating an AI system that would serve as a clearinghouse for enterprise-wide data. It would process the information to make a fact-based recommendation for every decision that the chief executive and leadership team must make.

For example, when a company needs to allocate resources, the AI system would run through a series of simulations, testing the impact of millions of possible courses of action. It would test what happens when funding is added to each and every department in the organization. The possible and likely outcomes would be ranked, and the company’s leaders could choose the option that maximizes shareholder return. 

Successful CEOs understand things that aren’t likely to be captured by machine intelligence – at least not in the foreseeable future. They also provide the inspiration and direction that’s not going to be particularly convincing coming from a robot.

As AI becomes stronger, the enterprise will become more intelligent, with more systems augmenting the judgment of human operators. Research and development will flourish, production will skyrocket, and customer desires will be satisfied. Instead of an apocalyptic future, it’s another Industrial Revolution.

And like the first Industrial Revolution, there will be upheaval as entire industries and job categories disappear. But for each door AI closes, it can just as easily open new frontiers in science, industry and achievement to make up for those losses.

Workers should position themselves to be ready to thrive within the intelligent enterprise by considering the following three tips. First, think about every discrete function in your daily work. Can it be automated? The answer will change as technology advances, but when it becomes “all of them” it’s time to change.

Second, forget about the medieval model of employment where you learned a skill or trade once, and that became your only job until retirement – even if you changed employers. You’re going to have to constantly learn and pick up new skills to have a chance in this rapidly changing market.

Finally, those most likely to succeed will be those with a more general education that emphasizes good judgment as well as analytical or mathematical skills. These skills can be transferred from one job to another in a different field, and in the new AI future, job hopping will be essential to survival.

The workplace of tomorrow will certainly be different, but there’s still a place for those who put in the effort to stay relevant.