New report finds employees turning to AI to avoid human interaction at work
Employees are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools at work instead of their own colleagues, amid growing recognition that AI is a "new kind of team member."
Findings from the latest Microsoft Work Trend Index revealed that 46% of employees now see AI as a "thought partner" that they can have conversational exchanges with to challenge their thinking, brainstorm ideas, or spark creativity.
In fact, the report found that employees are already reaching out to AI for things that humans can't provide. They include:
Some of the respondents are also turning to AI tools to avoid human interaction at work. They said they turn to them because of:
"It's a mindset shift. We are hardwired to think about using technology in a certain way — we see a search box and we assume we're dealing with a search engine," said Conor Grennan, chief AI architect at NYU Stern School of Business, in the report. "The unlock is when we realise it's not a tool but a new kind of team member."
According to the report, all employees will need to embrace AI as a thought partner and build related skills such as prompting with context and intent, refining outputs, spotting weak reasoning or gaps, as well as knowing when to push back or steer the conversation.
"The biggest gains will come from rethinking workflows, improving decisions, and elevating the quality of work across the board," the report read.
This growing synergy between AI and humans might also lead to the rise of HR-like departments in workplaces, except related to AI.
"As AI democratises access to expertise and intelligence, we'll see the rise of Intelligence Resources departments — much like how HR and IT evolved into core functions," said Karim Lakhani, chair of the digital, data, and design institute at Harvard, in the report.
"These new divisions will be essential for managing the interplay between humans and AI agents, emerging as a critical source of competitive advantage in the AI-enabled enterprise."
