3. Human Qualities

Developments in AI are rapidly progressing, and robots are becoming more efficient and human. What is the significance of humans in an ever more digitised working life? An increasingly important role, according to many experts, as the increasing digitalisation and automatisation of working life is expected to increase the demand for distinctly human qualities and characteristics.

While AI and robots are becoming increasingly advanced and a natural aspect of working life, robots still have a number of limitations. According to many experts, it will take almost three decades before we achieve “technological singularity”, the point when artificial intelligence will surpass the ability of the human brain. And even though robots can work more efficiently and quickly make logical decisions, they still lack an array of important abilities and qualities – including emotional intelligence, the ability to cooperate and to arrive at decisions based on values, as well as critical, visionary, abstract or creative thinking skills.

Such limitations mean that people still play an important role, even within the most automated industries. For example, Toyota factories reinstated people into the production line after realising that while automation did streamline production, it failed to drive the process forward. People also still play a crucial role at Honda factories; Tom Shoupe, COO of the Ohio Honda plant, recently stated that humans have unique qualities such as intuition and sensory abilities that cannot be replaced by machines. Kai-Fu Lee, CEO of Chinese investment company Sinovations, has referred to the irreplaceable qualities that humans possess. At the Davos climate summit, he pointed out that machines will gradually take over tasks in essentially all occupations, but that four qualities and abilities remain that cannot be replaced by machines: creativity, complexity, dexterity and compassion. Even forecasts from the World Bank, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey concerning skills that are expected to become increasingly important in labour markets highlight human qualities such as complex and critical thinking, collaborative ability, creativity and emotional intelligence.

Viktor Qvarfordt, AI developer, Sana Labs.

According to many experts, we live in an “empathy economy”, which means that emotional intelligence and the ability to feel empathy are becoming increasingly important in more areas. For example, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman coined the term “STEMpathy”, referring to jobs that “blend STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) skills with human empathy”. In medicine, the field of medical humanities is currently growing, with research underway on how the humanities in healthcare can influence both doctors and patients to become better. For example, one study has shown that medical students who dedicate time to the arts become more empathetic. And in the US, there are now programmes such as Empathetics and Oncotalk, which train doctors to develop "clinical empathy".

One expert who believes that empathy will play an increasingly important role in the working life of the future is Maria Idebro, management consultant at the consulting firm Thread. We asked her in what way, and how she views the meaning of humans in a computer-driven and automated world.

Deborah Muhlrad, head of digital health at BlueCall.

Empathy will be important in two ways: to understand the individual, and to create understanding between parties. Understanding the individual is gaining in importance in both product and service development. Because even if we are able to gather a vast amount of data to create customised offerings, empathy will be needed to understand the full complexity of the context when dealing with customers and the ability to put oneself in their place. The second context in which empathy will be important is to create understanding between different parties. The future will demand greater collaboration between various disciplines, companies and industries to solve complex problems and challenges. Today, when parties initiate collaboration they draw up agreements to define the practical aspects of the collaboration, while ignoring how they match culturally. Collaboration is challenging, and there is a need for someone, perhaps an external party, to conduct an analysis and create a holistic picture of how the different parties function culturally, and what can be done to promote understanding between different individuals.

Even if a social robot could be used, for example, at a reception desk, this still begs the question of whether it should actually be done, and in such case what values would then disappear. Because even though a robotic receptionist is able to provide the same – or perhaps even better and more accurate – answers to questions, I believe that in some situations we humans will always value human interaction. As robots are equipped to create art and write books, the question of authenticity also arises, and here it is very much a matter of how the recipient experiences the creative work, which can differ from case to case. If I had read a book that profoundly affected me, and then learnt that it was the product of algorithms, I would feel deeply deceived. Yet, I would have no problem with a Netflix movie produced by AI, as long as it was entertaining. These are complex yet fascinating questions, which I believe we will have to address to a greater extent in the future.