“AI is a tool that can either drive efficiency or pose a risk, depending on how it is used” says Josh Gordon, Technology Expert at Geonode. AI is the juggernaut causing a tectonic transformation in the ever more shape-shifting map of technology.
In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, AI has emerged as a beacon of innovation, transformation, and controversy. A recent statistic reports that over 60% of businesses believe AI could boost productivity. So what motivates 18% of Businesses to plan to ban AI in their operations?
The Geonode team digs deeper into the causes behind the detrimental trend.
Ethical and Privacy Concerns
The most significant reason for the growing skepticism about AI surrounds the question of ethics and privacy. A majority of the AI-centric technologies being developed lately are data-hungry because of their increased complexity and require huge amounts of data, most of which are sensitive personal details. Data handling, storage, and analysis using AI raises significant privacy risks and ethical dilemmas.
Businesses are concerned that AI would be used for mass surveillance, decision-making biased towards certain sections of society, and large-scale destruction of privacyr. This may result in a huge loss of consumer trust.
According to Harvard Business Review, the better an AI system gets at digesting and making sense of data, the harder it becomes to manage consumer data ethically using such systems.
Job Displacement and Loss of Human-Specific Skills
Job displacement is another significant factor that is leading to AI being banned. Automation and intelligent technology have been seen to take over human jobs in multiple sectors. This is not misplaced because the World Economic Forum estimates that 85 million people’s jobs will be displaced by automation and AI in 2025.
The companies concerned with excessive automation and its avoiding functionality are changing their minds. They are looking for a fine line between technological advancement and protecting as many jobs as possible.
AI Can Eliminate Jobs: AI can automate various tasks that people perform today, potentially eliminating jobs.
There is a Need to Reskill the Workforce: There will be a rising need to re-skill the workforce to bridge the growing skill gap due to AI. Not all companies are in a position to do this.
Lack of Understanding and Implementation Complexity
Although AI holds a lot of promise, it continues to be a complex domain requiring specific expertise for successful implementation. Few business executives and decision-makers possess this knowledge. They don’t understand how AI works, its limitations, and how they can implement it to drive specific businesses. This lack of understanding brings fear and skepticism.
Gartner states that “By 2022, 85% of AI projects will deliver erroneous outcomes due to bias in data, algorithms, or the teams responsible for managing them.”
The nature of this problem and the consequent risk in deploying it may cause companies to take a step back in deploying AI technologies.
High Operation Costs
Although the utility of AI in improving efficiency and saving cost in the medium term is immense, the upfront cost of integrating AI systems can stretch quite high for many businesses. Consequent expenses include the following:
- Technology acquisition costs
- Costs of hiring responsible personnel and
- Maintenance expenses
For many SMEs these costs will outweigh the perceived benefits and eventually deter them from adopting AI. Moreover, the scarcity of AI personnel poses a problem in implementing AI projects within companies.
Josh Gordon suggests: “Companies need to critically assess the pros and cons of AI. Far beyond the splash of latest technology waves, consider the practical, ethical, and strategic implications for your business.”
Going forward, what organizations need to do is have open dialogues, create collaborations, and invest in AI literacy and ethical frameworks to harness the true potential of AI in an inclusive, transparent, and beneficial-for-all-stakeholders involved manner.
