Even though artificial intelligence (AI) has been a prevalent topic for many years now, it continues to cause discussion in the world of work as technology advances. As a human resources professional, you are more than likely already familiar with applicant tracking systems (ATS), which is AI software meant to lessen the time spent reviewing resumes and job applications from job seekers. However, AI is beginning to creep into much more than your talent acquisition strategies, so here are the pros and cons of digitizing the workspace with AI.

Pros

There are many potential benefits to incorporating AI systems into your daily operations. We’ll discuss some of the overarching benefits that can impact several aspects of your daily responsibilities.

Can improve remote work

For the majority of industries, remote work is the new standard. While there has been much time to test and improve upon different work-from-home strategies to keep your team operating efficiently, AI can also do wonders to ensure there are fewer and fewer setbacks.

In our previous article outlining communication technologies for your team, we spoke about a program called Jive. As we mentioned, one of the popular uses of the program is its ability to understand job roles and deliver what resources are most needed for each role to work effectively. It bypasses the need for unnecessary questions among staff or searching for the right tools and documents.

Can track and analyze data more efficiently

Perhaps one of the most common uses of AI in the human resources field is to track and analyze employee performance and other forms of data. Unless your specialty is data analysis, it is likely that you do not want to spend much of your time inputting data, tracking trends, and creating reports of this information.

Using AI software to accomplish this task can greatly increase your understanding of your teams while easily providing you with the necessary information to create improvements where needed.

Can improve overall productivity

Employee productivity is perhaps one of the biggest concerns from management, especially when it comes to remote work. While the data suggests that productivity has been up since most companies went remote, it always remains a concern. Implementing AI systems can often help increase productivity by automating certain tasks and procedures, thus giving yourself and your employees some additional time to take on more difficult tasks.

One example of how AI can keep your team productive is by implementing a human resources management system (HRMS). While this technology is not necessarily new, many providers are constantly seeking ways to improve upon their products so even more advancements in this space are surely on the way.

Cons

Unfortunately, AI is not yet advanced enough to be considered perfect. While some of these cons may decrease or completely vanish over time, we aren’t quite there yet.

Can cause undetected errors

Perhaps the biggest shortcoming of AI is the fact that it isn’t perfect and it can lead to errors. This issue can be quite annoying as we would hope the use of AI would rid our work of errors, but this is not the case.

AI is a technology that learns and grows much as we would as people. However, it currently still has its own limitations and is always a work in progress. A prime example of this issue is commonly seen in ATS as the programs may wrongfully label candidates as unfit even though they may be the best option available.

If you are having to account for errors and double-check work conducted by AI, it may not be saving you as much time or effort as it was intended.

Can be more costly

Much like any software or other technology, AI is not free. How unfortunate, right? As with most things, you are likely to receive a quality product for a much higher price. The more intelligent the AI system and the fewer errors it is likely to make will more than likely determine the ultimate cost.

If your team is wary of the potential cons or of the return on investment, you may not be ready for this type of organizational change. However, like most technologies, the more advancements that are made and the more common its use becomes, the price will decrease eventually (hopefully). If your team really does not have the budget for a top-notch AI program, consider what you are willing to pay and what your greatest needs are.

There are many pros and cons to weigh when considering implementing AI systems for your team. As technology improves and we continue to make strides with AI, this list of cons will surely decrease. Until then, be sure to conduct thorough research on what programs you’d like to implement and be aware of any potential pitfalls.

If implementing AI systems isn’t the best strategy for your organization at the moment, continue to check in with BrandResumes’ HR Corner for alternatives to help improve your human resources team.