AI in the workplace: Views from the frontline

The second major piece of research that came out of the Augmented-Humans project involved an online survey of professionals woking at the frontline of AI technology implementations. This was published at the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) 2023. So happy to share that this paper was voted into the top 25% of papers at this conference! Below please find the presentation I made at AMCIS in Panama City, and below that is an outline of the abstract and conclusions.

Citation

Raftopoulos, M., and Hamari, J., 2023. Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace: Implementation Challenges and Opportunities. The Americas’ Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) 2023, Panama City, Panama.

Abstract

The augmentation of human capability with artificial intelligence is integral to the advancement of next generation information systems yet we have limited understanding of how organisations can translate the potential of AI into creating business value. We conducted a pilot study of direct users of AI enabled technologies to investigate the challenges and opportunities of successful implementations of human-machine systems. Our study found that organisations have realised positive benefits from AI projects through high levels of communication, stakeholder consultation, problem management, ethics, and transparency. Significant work is required in managing staff motivation and empowerment, trust in AI technologies, and managing novel cyberthreat issues. Shortcomings in AI technology development in the areas of accuracy, reliability, trust, and human-machine interaction appear to be significant barriers to adoption and performance, as is the integrative and synchronous development of both human and technical systems. Performance outcomes may be equally dependent on how well organisation can strategically use AI to adapt, integrate and renew itself in a constantly shifting technological landscape.

Conclusions

Our pilot survey suggests that organisations have realised tangible benefits from current AI projects through high levels of communication, stakeholder consultation, problem management, ethics, and transparency. There appears to be a high level of congruence between technical and management staff on these issues, which indicates positivity of staff towards of working with AI in a constructive manner. In our sample, respondents reported widespread agreement on positive technology acceptance and success of AI implementations which runs counter to much of the literature we have reviewed on this issue. However, our survey has also revealed significant congruence on key operational and implementation issues that provide opportunities for further research. Organisations can be doing more to alleviate concerns over job losses, and loss of humanness in the workplace as AI technologies continue to advance. Significant work needs to be undertaken in managing staff motivation and empowerment, trust in AI technologies, and managing of complex and novel cyberthreat issues. Shortcomings in AI technology development in the areas of accuracy, reliability, trust, and human-machine interaction appear to be significant barriers to adoption and performance, as is the integrative development of human technical systems as a synchronous whole. Our findings highlight these factors as essential microfoundations for successful human-machine system implementations that require further investigation and research in organisational capabilities development as an integral component of future AI development.