13.8.2023
AI's rapid data analysis and decision-making capabilities are transforming industries in Europe, particularly cognitive tasks in sectors like automotive and finance. While emotional value contributions remain a challenge for AI, companies need to proactively address its impact on their operations and workforce.
Andreas Klug
Guest Author & AI Expert
Did you actually know that companies in Europe are particularly affected when it comes to AI transformation? The explanation is simple: AI can analyze and evaluate incredibly large volumes of impressions - meaning all types of data - in relation to complex issues within a very short time. I call these impressions "cognitive value propositions." They will - sooner or later - be provided by machines. And this is a relevant topic for the industrialized nations in Europe's center and north.
Garry Kasparov nervously slid around on his chair. It was May 11, 1997, and all was not well for him in the game against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. And Kasparov gave up after only an hour, unnerved. The machine, Kasparov later said, had at times "played like a god." The famous "thaw" of the AI began. A good 25 years ago.
After Kasparov's defeat, many thought: Soon computers will be superior to us humans in all respects. The reason for superiority is simple: AI can analyze and evaluate incredibly large amounts of observed impressions (by which I mean any form of data) at breakneck speed.
Of course, there are many other significant developments that are decisively shaping and driving our digital transformation. The Metaverse, the Internet of Things (Internet-of-things or IoT) or the Blockchain. But: Artificial intelligence (AI) is seen by people in Germany as the most important digital technology of the future. 41 percent of German citizens assume that AI will prevail in the future (Source: Yougov, 2023). And the hype around ChatGPT obviously shows: people have reduced their reservations - even if many job profiles will be eliminated in the future. That, too, is part of the truth.
This is why AI is particularly relevant for companies in Western industrialized countries. Only through the use of AI does data become actionable information. Only AI makes sense of data, can estimate probabilities, minimize risks, make decisions based on "data pictures".
Economists Carl Frey and Michael Osborne noted back in 2013 that 47 percent of jobs in the U.S. were threatened by digitization. Today we know: It is too easy to limit the threat of the disappearance of traditional job profiles to railroad drivers, application processors or service employees. In the future, judges, surgeons, and scientists will also be supported by AI-assisted systems. Even if we still considered the academic professions to be "hardly replaceable" a few years ago: In these jobs, significant parts of the cognitive value contribution will also be provided by machines in the future.
So for management in companies, the question is not just: "Which occupational fields will be eliminated by AI?" But also: "Which subtasks will AI take over in certain job profiles? Motto: The iron may be forged by the machine, but the human being may still check the quality of the alloy by sight.
In my book "Trend Radar AI", we looked more closely at the type of employee value contributions in a company that are being replaced by AI. Two groups quickly emerged:
Source: https://trendradar-ki.de/
In these value contributions, employees primarily use their emotional, social and creative skills. Examples include employee leadership, idea generation, empathy: everything we commonly refer to as "common sense." Namely, our ability to treat others with appreciation, to be emphatic and creative, to assess difficult situations, and to weigh complex courses of action.
Industries in which the share of emotional value contribution is in the foreground are, for example: Art and music, entertainment, gastronomy, tourism, sports, fashion, retail.
In these value contributions, employees primarily use their cognitive skills. Examples include: recording transactions in customer service, researching contextual information and interpreting it, evaluating it according to highly complex criteria, and triggering processes. This is where AI shows its superiority. Because it can literally find the "needle in the haystack," draw conclusions and recognize correlations - in thousands of data records, in a matter of seconds.
Industries in which activities with cognitive value contributions are in the foreground are, for example:
And exactly these sectors are the 5 most important industries in Germany: German companies generate almost 1.2 trillion EUR in sales (2019). More than 30 percent of the total economic output in Germany. That brings me to the assessment:
Western industrialized nations in particular are affected when it comes to cognitive value contributions that can potentially be provided by machines.
In addition, there are the equally important service sectors. They, too, have a high cognitive share of tasks and activities:
These sectors are particularly affected when it comes to the mechanization of the "everyday skills" of their employees.
Particularly in the case of office activities, AI is thus actually ushering in a new stage of evolution. Whether we work in accounting, in court and in government offices, in the contact center or as lawyers and doctors: The assumption of cognitive tasks by machine assistance systems has a significant impact on the way we work.
This makes AI a very relevant topic for all companies. This is because almost all cognitive value contributions can in principle be replaced by AI. Against this background, it is surprising that so few companies are concerned about AI. After all, according to digital association Bitkom, 6 out of 10 companies do not address the potential impact of AI use in their organization and industry.
So, if the emotional value proposition is completely unimportant in your work environment, then you and your environment are severely impacted. If it is important, then they still have some time. In any case, from today's perspective, the emotional value contribution of humans cannot be replaced by intelligent machines. And even if it could be replaced one day, that doesn't mean it will happen.
Kasparov certainly didn't expect that.
Did you actually know that companies in Europe are particularly affected when it comes to AI transformation? The explanation is simple: AI can analyze and evaluate incredibly large volumes of impressions - meaning all types of data - in relation to complex issues within a very short time. I call these impressions "cognitive value propositions." They will - sooner or later - be provided by machines. And this is a relevant topic for the industrialized nations in Europe's center and north.
Garry Kasparov nervously slid around on his chair. It was May 11, 1997, and all was not well for him in the game against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue. And Kasparov gave up after only an hour, unnerved. The machine, Kasparov later said, had at times "played like a god." The famous "thaw" of the AI began. A good 25 years ago.
After Kasparov's defeat, many thought: Soon computers will be superior to us humans in all respects. The reason for superiority is simple: AI can analyze and evaluate incredibly large amounts of observed impressions (by which I mean any form of data) at breakneck speed.
Of course, there are many other significant developments that are decisively shaping and driving our digital transformation. The Metaverse, the Internet of Things (Internet-of-things or IoT) or the Blockchain. But: Artificial intelligence (AI) is seen by people in Germany as the most important digital technology of the future. 41 percent of German citizens assume that AI will prevail in the future (Source: Yougov, 2023). And the hype around ChatGPT obviously shows: people have reduced their reservations - even if many job profiles will be eliminated in the future. That, too, is part of the truth.
This is why AI is particularly relevant for companies in Western industrialized countries. Only through the use of AI does data become actionable information. Only AI makes sense of data, can estimate probabilities, minimize risks, make decisions based on "data pictures".
Economists Carl Frey and Michael Osborne noted back in 2013 that 47 percent of jobs in the U.S. were threatened by digitization. Today we know: It is too easy to limit the threat of the disappearance of traditional job profiles to railroad drivers, application processors or service employees. In the future, judges, surgeons, and scientists will also be supported by AI-assisted systems. Even if we still considered the academic professions to be "hardly replaceable" a few years ago: In these jobs, significant parts of the cognitive value contribution will also be provided by machines in the future.
So for management in companies, the question is not just: "Which occupational fields will be eliminated by AI?" But also: "Which subtasks will AI take over in certain job profiles? Motto: The iron may be forged by the machine, but the human being may still check the quality of the alloy by sight.
In my book "Trend Radar AI", we looked more closely at the type of employee value contributions in a company that are being replaced by AI. Two groups quickly emerged:
Source: https://trendradar-ki.de/
In these value contributions, employees primarily use their emotional, social and creative skills. Examples include employee leadership, idea generation, empathy: everything we commonly refer to as "common sense." Namely, our ability to treat others with appreciation, to be emphatic and creative, to assess difficult situations, and to weigh complex courses of action.
Industries in which the share of emotional value contribution is in the foreground are, for example: Art and music, entertainment, gastronomy, tourism, sports, fashion, retail.
In these value contributions, employees primarily use their cognitive skills. Examples include: recording transactions in customer service, researching contextual information and interpreting it, evaluating it according to highly complex criteria, and triggering processes. This is where AI shows its superiority. Because it can literally find the "needle in the haystack," draw conclusions and recognize correlations - in thousands of data records, in a matter of seconds.
Industries in which activities with cognitive value contributions are in the foreground are, for example:
And exactly these sectors are the 5 most important industries in Germany: German companies generate almost 1.2 trillion EUR in sales (2019). More than 30 percent of the total economic output in Germany. That brings me to the assessment:
Western industrialized nations in particular are affected when it comes to cognitive value contributions that can potentially be provided by machines.
In addition, there are the equally important service sectors. They, too, have a high cognitive share of tasks and activities:
These sectors are particularly affected when it comes to the mechanization of the "everyday skills" of their employees.
Particularly in the case of office activities, AI is thus actually ushering in a new stage of evolution. Whether we work in accounting, in court and in government offices, in the contact center or as lawyers and doctors: The assumption of cognitive tasks by machine assistance systems has a significant impact on the way we work.
This makes AI a very relevant topic for all companies. This is because almost all cognitive value contributions can in principle be replaced by AI. Against this background, it is surprising that so few companies are concerned about AI. After all, according to digital association Bitkom, 6 out of 10 companies do not address the potential impact of AI use in their organization and industry.
So, if the emotional value proposition is completely unimportant in your work environment, then you and your environment are severely impacted. If it is important, then they still have some time. In any case, from today's perspective, the emotional value contribution of humans cannot be replaced by intelligent machines. And even if it could be replaced one day, that doesn't mean it will happen.
Kasparov certainly didn't expect that.
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