The biggest buzzword in business is without a doubt AI, but how much do we actually understand about the technology’s impact on the future of work?
Here, we share expert insights into the likely impact of AI on businesses, discuss whether AI is the future of business, and how you can (and whether you should) adopt artificial intelligence in the way you hire and work.
AI certainly represents a seismic shift in what we consider to be traditional ‘work’, able to take on automated tasks, admin and content creation, freeing up companies’ time and resources dramatically. While there’s much to be gained in terms of convenience, concerns are increasingly being raised about AI’s potential to displace the human workforce, ingest data from contested sources, and pose a risk to the privacy of people and companies.
In this contested context, it can be difficult to know whether and to what extent you should invest in AI technology, and if so, where to best place that investment within your business. Here, CEO of YOONO, Simon Wadsworth, aims to provide you with some clarity on the matter, so you can put your best foot forward into the future.
We bring the knowledge. You make the decisions.
At YOONO, we know that AI and other advancing technologies pose both potential and concern for business owners. To navigate this, we firmly believe that with the right knowledge in hand, you have the power to make a good decision that is always grounded in fact.
We have developed intelligent background screening that helps you to see exactly who you are hiring or networking with, to bring transparency to the murkier side of online recruitment. One search, one report, one clear picture. Do YOONO who you want to work with?
We’ll look into different areas of how AI will change the future of the workplace and how you should react, including:
Is AI the future of business?
Let’s rephrase that question—AI already is business, as part of the recruitment software we use, the email automations we generate, and the Chatbot assistants we adopt as part of our customer service teams. Right now, AI is revolutionising the fundamentals of how we simply get work done, streamlining time-consuming processes and making our workflow more efficient.
"Businesses generate vast amounts of data, and AI-powered analytics will enhance predictive decision-making. AI can process and interpret data faster than humans, providing insights for marketing, supply chain optimisation, and risk management"
- Simon Wadsworth, CEO at YOONO
So, if this is now, what can we expect the impact will be of artificial intelligence on the future of business?
The Generative AI revolution of the 2020s is gathering pace at breakneck speed. This type of AI absorbs data in order to create original content, but AI companies are already looking beyond Gen AI’s capabilities to develop systems that are more effective at problem-solving, and can offer a greater level of intelligent interaction with users.
This AI stage remains to be seen, but it is likely to be Interactive AI, which can be thought of as more like an extension of the human brain, an assistive agent that helps you with a wide range of increasingly complex tasks.
In business, this might mean that AI becomes less of an input-this-and-see-what-comes-out process, and more of a sophisticated and ongoing process in which the AI ‘assistant’ continually learns from how you work, suggesting more problem-solving solutions and adapting to your personal work process as you go. A robot over your shoulder? Not quite, but it certainly has the potential to behave like a more fully-fledged and highly capable assistant for a much wider range of tasks.
Is AI worth the investment for your organisation?
With AI becoming so commonplace so quickly, it can feel like you don’t have much choice as a business to bring AI onboard. But be assured, you do have the choice about whether to invest in AI, and what shape that investment will take.
Good advice is to not jump on the bandwagon for the sake of feeling left behind. A more considered approach will be rewarded, and it’s worth looking into examples of where AI is working effectively in your specific industry. So before you part with your cash, let’s look at a couple of examples of where AI has transformed particular sectors for the better.
The financial sector
Because AI is defined by data, this actually can lend businesses a clarity and oversight that might be lacking through human input alone. Let’s take the example of identifying credit card fraud, which the financial industry has been finding to be a much easier task using AI.
AI analyses the usually predictable patterns of what we spend and where we spend it, with any anomaly flagged up as a potential fraudulent transaction. This is arguably only possible with the clear, cold oversight of AI which is concerned with data alone, whereas a human reviewer might be unable to spot the anomaly at such speed. They may even be unable to spot the fraudulent transaction, due to our tendency to look at detail rather than the overall picture.
The recruitment industry
As any business owner knows, hiring can be a minefield, and online hiring even more so. It can be difficult to know if people are exactly who they say they are, or whether their LinkedIn profile has been creatively crafted.
In recruitment, AI is allowing employers to have greater clarity about who they interview and hire, from intelligent background screening that determines if someone’s online persona matches up with who they are in real life, to AI interview testing that separates super-skilled individuals out from a growing stack of CVs.
AI is also creating a welcome impact in HR, with a host of helpful new HR tech that can analyse complex data sets about current and potential employees, leading to better internal employee support, improving diversity in the workplace by identifying areas for improvement, and scheduling admin tasks like interview arrangements.
What are the challenges relating to AI that businesses will face in the near future?
Of course, not everything AI-related is rosy. There are a number of areas of potential concern that businesses should be aware of before they take the plunge with migrating over to AI systems. These include issues relating to the transition and management of data, accountability for when things go wrong and the growing question of the role of human input in an increasingly AI-dominated business landscape.
Data preparation and privacy
Businesses will need to put strict guidelines in place relating to how their data is prepared, organised and transferred to AI systems, and it’s much better that this is done before such action takes place. This may entail a huge (and potentially expensive) overhaul of existing IT systems, and a manual check of the business’ current data, exposing potential errors and biases before it is fed into AI models.
This also relates to the issue of data privacy and AI, which continues to cause a huge amount of distress and debate in the public sphere. It really comes down to ‘where is the data coming from?’, ‘who owns the data?’ and ‘is it ethical to share AI content based on source data that is private, contested or unknown?’. These are questions businesses need to ask themselves and be prepared to confront in the near future.
Accountability and privacy
If a company puts something out that had AI input, which turns out to cause legal damage, personal harm or an error, who is held accountable? This is an ongoing dilemma relating to AI, as people often use AI output without checking or editing the generated content.
It is highly advisable for businesses to put guidance in place for employees who are using AI software or sharing AI-generated output with colleagues or customers, to make sure that there are levels of accountability and methods for preventing future errors.
Human input
Many people are afraid that AI will steal jobs, and effectively displace human workers. A 2024 report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) puts statistics to this anxiety, predicting that 8 million UK workers are at risk of losing their jobs within the next 3-5 years as AI technologies develop.
While new career avenues will emerge alongside AI, the role of human input in businesses underpinned by AI is certainly likely to change dramatically, and businesses should be prepared to reduce workforces in response, or to put significant resources into upskilling existing workers.
How will AI change business for the better?
While it’s vital to keep these concerns about AI at the forefront of your mind if and when you choose to adapt, there’s a huge amount to gain from bringing AI into your business. For the majority of industries, AI is already becoming a game changer, and it pays to know where the tech could take your business in the future.
Automation and efficiency
The principle advantage of AI in its current form is that it brings convenience and efficiency into the workplace. While tackling complex tasks or decision making is still in progress for AI development, simple tasks that require automation, such as data inputting or scheduling tasks, or tasks that would otherwise take a lot of manual hours to perform, such as searching large quantities of data, can be handed over to AI with relative confidence.
Profitability
A common question is will AI make my business profitable? The answer is context-dependent, and likely determined by the sector your business operates in and how you intend to use AI within that sector. Some businesses, such as marketing agencies and content creation companies are uniquely placed to directly harness AI’s potential to generate revenue.
The majority of businesses are more likely to find that AI can boost profitability through less direct means—by streamlining the efficiency of tasks and services, or through automating tasks that would otherwise take a long time or additional staff resources to accomplish.
Ideation and insights
According to artificial intelligence expert and instructor at Harvard DCE Professional and Executive Development, Mark Esposito, artificial intelligence can be used as a tool to see the wood from the trees:
In many ways, this is one of the most exciting advantages of AI that could transform the future of business. A tool like YOONO uses AI-powered tech to analyse a vast data set about an individual, bringing you intelligent insights about their suitability for a role within a company. This is a great example of how AI can be used as a tool for more intelligent decision making, presenting data in a way that might not be obvious at surface level.
Should you take the AI plunge…and how?
Are you ready to bring AI and business practice together in your organisation? Here at YOONO, we do think that AI is the future of business, but it’s how you choose to adopt AI tech that will make all the difference in terms of value and success.
A good first step for any business looking to dip a toe (or plunge into the deep end) into the AI pool is to use a thoughtfully developed AI tool to solve a genuine and persistent problem in your business.
YOONO helps you to find out exactly who you’re hiring, providing smart background searches that offer more than the usual belt and braces.
We understand that one of the greatest challenges facing growing businesses is finding people who will bring skills, innovation and consistency to the table. Start with a single YOONO search and see if they’re going to be the right fit, even before you invite them to interview.
No more taking a punt, and no more bad hires. Just straight-up facts and smart insights to make your decision a simple one.
