by Artificial intelligence is now a part of our daily lives and many of us use it and meet AI without even thinking about it. We ask Alexa to play music or check a recipe, Siri organizes our calendars and Facebook, Instagram and X use the technology to decide which social media posts – or ads – to show us.
The development of accessible tools such as ChatGPT has led to the integration of AI into the workplace. AI’s ability to analyze vast amounts of data and recognize patterns allows it to mimic human function and solve problems, reason, learn, detect and carry out day-to-day administrative tasks. This clearly led to concerns about its potential to exceed human capacity in certain areas.
AI may be able to create images and text, hire, predict trends and make financial decisions, but it’s important to remember its limitations. While technology will undoubtedly bring a lot of support and capabilities to our workplaces, it’s important to understand that it won’t completely replace people – at least not yet, anyway.
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It lacks something essential to almost every job – the human touch.
AI cannot empathize
“AI is a great tool to help with data analysis and automation, but it lacks real empathy and practical common sense in various aspects of work and life,” says careers expert Deirdre Orr. “The ability to understand emotions, navigate complex social dynamics, and make nuanced decisions based on context and experience sets people apart in ways that AI cannot fully emulate.”
Empathy, the ability to see another person’s point of view and appreciate their perspective, is a powerful tool. Research suggests that truly feeling and expressing compassion has far-reaching effects in our personal and professional lives, and is linked to better physical health, maintenance of cognitive function, happiness, resilience, resistance to burnout and better relationships.
It was also associated with professional success, which paid off with the idea of ’taking care of number one’. In a 14-year study from the University of California-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, those who were generous and happy were more likely to be promoted to a position of power.
Empathy can also increase sales and investment opportunities, as empathy can help people better understand the motivations of clients, customers and investors.
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“Empathy and common sense are valuable assets in the workplace, each offering unique qualities that AI cannot replicate,” says Orr. “They improve collaboration, reduce conflicts, and increase employee engagement. In addition, these qualities encourage innovation, improve customer relationships, and assist in sound decision-making.”
In essence, empathy softens negative emotions – something AI can’t do. Of course, this is less important if all jobs were to be automated overnight, but research suggests that this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.
AI in the workplace
Although new technology will likely disrupt our workplaces, it will do so by taking over our burdensome administrative tasks rather than replacing us entirely. In part, a recent MIT study found, this is because AI is too expensive.
There are jobs where empathy is even more important. Artificial Intelligence is making significant progress in healthcare, from diagnosis to treatment and research. He is rightly praised as a game player, but his lack of ability is his achilles heel. In healthcare — and especially in mental healthcare — is the ability to empathize and connect with a patient on a personal, human level.
For people in crisis, human connection and meaningful relationships are key components of recovery – so much so that empathy becomes an irreplaceable part of a therapeutic relationship. Having an empathetic connection with a doctor, nurse or therapist builds trust, which can encourage compliance with treatments and help patients cope with difficult diagnoses. This is something that AI cannot replicate and even if we were to create a technology that mimics empathy and compassion, it would raise serious ethical issues.
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And, Orr says, there are other problems with relying too heavily on AI. “It’s limited in the workplace in terms of actual ethical decision-making,” she explains. “Moral judgment comes from within the human, so when it comes time to fully assess a situation and issue a complex decision it would be very difficult for an AI to provide an answer that is fair, ethical and unbiased.”
A good example is discrimination in recruitment. AI can scan job applications and vet applicants quickly and efficiently, making a time-consuming process much simpler. But, the decisions AI makes are shaped by the initial data it receives. So if the underlying data is unfair, skewed or discriminatory, the resulting algorithms can perpetuate the bias, potentially contributing to widespread inequality.
“AI cannot replicate or navigate the complex nuances of different human elements in the workplace,” says Orr. “Also, AI is very limited when it comes to customer service. It can understand the simplest of commands and requests, but AI bots really struggle with the personalized touch needed to provide excellent customer service to employees, customers and clients.”
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