We explained in a recent article that the social and economic constraints caused by the pandemic forced companies to take options that they had not previously considered adequately in the process of digital transformation. All companies are trying to keep the cost-efficiency seesaw in the balance of profitability in order to survive in the new normal order after the pandemic. Along with online technology companies, because of this, concern traditional companies that have lost their immunity to digital transformation are also looking for ways to digitize their employees, along with their business processes.
The ultimate goal is to transform the workforce with artificial intelligence (AI). But it’s not easy for a human to give up human. For this, the initiative “humanizing AI”, which began with deepfake Technologies, is moving towards the goal of realizing the utopia of “artificial man.”
Is Deepfake an online practice process?
If AI is to appear in a real human view in the not-too-distant artificial future, deepfake technology, which we first met in late 2017, will be the milestone of it.
Deepfake technologies, which allow you to manipulate a person with digitally copied sound and image, or design people who don’t really exist and produce them as synthetic media in video and audio format, have come across as the new normal of the online world. Today, deepfake speakers present news on Chinese TV channels, deepfake fashion icons appear in commercials for famous brands, and even in Hollywood, as it rules the world with its scripts and world turning to deepfake technologies. However, deepfake’s habitat is inevitably limited to the online world. For now however it is not possible for Deepfake characters to take part and appear in physical life. In contrast, the theory that deepfake is an important stage in accustoming humanity to “robot humans” does not come to mind very far from the point of reach. It is because it is no longer so easy to distinguish the human-looking AI on the screen from only 2 of the 5 senses. In this case, as a customer representative of a bank, insurance company, travel agency, online market or retail chain, he may appear on the screen of our smart devices to sell products or services. And we will warm to it, even from afar. We will not be surprised that we’re dealing with a robot.…
While waiting for Pirates, companies took priority…
The deepfake, perceived as a digital disinformation weapon of AI disguised as a human body, caused global attack concern, especially during the USA presidential election two months later. However, the crisis hit the Earth in an unexpected area with the Covid-19 pandemic. Deepfake, considered the biggest cyber threat in history, was also the hope in business life to recover from the negative effects of the pandemic crisis.
The employment market and occupation Research Institute (IAB), headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany, published a report highlighting the growing influence of AI and robots in working life. The IAB has recommended that those looking for a profession that has not undergone digital change become hairdressers for now. Even in hairdressing, software and algorithms will determine future hairstyles, IAB research department head Prof. Enzo Weber said “Sooner or later, software will take over some or all of the work that people have done so far.” Weber, an expert in labor market, econometrics and macroeconomics, argues that from large companies to labor-intensive SMEs, the labor force will be digitized. Prof. Weber emphasized that “Digitalization, automation and the use of robots will also open up new employment areas,” pointing out that AI use will increase productivity, lower costs and increase revenue.
Interest of companies in AI is growing in the pandemic. So will AI be made up of software and algorithms that improve data management and production performance in computers and digital production bands? Or will it enter the human body and brain and start the era of human-looking hybrid or robot employees?
Emotion Economy
A study on USA workforce data found that AI takes over ‘knowledge economy’ jobs from people, such as data analysis and calculations, but the ability to listen, communicate and empathies become more valuable in the workplace. It was noted that this table will lead employees to ’emotion economy’ jobs that require more interpersonal relationship skills and emotional intelligence.
University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School Of Business, Head Of Marketing, Prof. Roland Rust, head of the Finance Department at the same university, Prof. Vojislav Maksimovic along with Prof. Ming-Hui Huang from National Taiwan University examined the transformation in business life. Studying data covering millions of employees in the U.S.A., researchers revealed how AI is changing businesses with the article titled, “The economics of emotion: managing the next generation of Artificial Intelligence.” Emphasizing that the process of “emotion economy” has already launched and the researchers said that the criteria have changed in this direction, not only in terms of employment, but also in terms of wage growth.
Prof. Rust said: “Take a financial analyst’s job, for example. Do you think this is quite quantitative and thinking-oriented? No, it’s not like that anymore. Our research reveals that this business has become much more emotion-driven over the past 10 years. People use AI-powered tools for analytical studies. What is expected of them now is to hold people’s hands and give them confidence in situations like stock market falls.” Human management, working with others, emotional intelligence and negotiation skills appear to be the qualities most in demand today and in the future. Researchers say the condition could give women an advantage over emotional intelligence.
According to researchers, in the emotional economy of human, his superiority over AI will not last forever. Prof. Rust thinks that AI will one day take over the emotional tasks associated with building relationships with people. “As AI becomes more complex, there will be no turning back. The demon came out of the bottle,” he says.
To Hire Avatar deepfakes or copy employee of the month?
Because of the pandemic, when physical contact in business is reduced to a minimum, companies are also trying to turn the crisis into an opportunity to transform human resources with AI. By taking steps to solve pandemic constraints, they are testing the AI-based deepfake Human Resource. For example, like Microsoft’s attempt to replace its editors with AI, WPP, one of the world’s 4 major advertising groups, opted for the deepfake option for employee training. As of last year, the group, which has 130 thousand employees and a turnover of 13.2 billion pounds, did not want to shoot 20 different videos for the training of its global workforce, which will cost tens of thousands of dollars each with its own instructors. For 50 thousand employees, 20 different scenarios of 5 minutes each cost a total of 100 thousand dollars with avatars of Synthesia, which transmitted the company’s messages in different languages.
So why banks, insurance or airlines shouldn’t companies, travel agencies, online supermarkets or retail chains try it? Why not AI and AI deepfake customer representatives equipped with audio or online video perform transactions of customers or market and sell products and services of companies?
In addition, there can be new digital human resources online, human-looking avatars selected according to customer profile and local characteristics, as well as successful company employees can be copied for this purpose. Thus, employees who achieve high customer satisfaction or high sales turnover through their transactions can serve a large number of customers online, perhaps at the same time. Thanks to their high performance, the company’s productivity and sales increase, but the salary burden does not increase. Maybe with a guarantee to protect your job or a reasonable royalty fee, everyone will be happy. Copying successful employees who have won the hearts of customers can also serve the economy of emotions more.
Hollywood launched, Elon Musk adapts to life
Hollywood prepares our subconscious for future from natural disasters to wars, space works, scientific discoveries and inventions with strategic scenarios… Recently rapidly growing global online broadcast platforms also serves for the same purpose. When we look at productions on the theme of AI that have come out of their studios, you will encounter a similar landscape. The 2002 film Simone is a complete deepfake story that satirizes the world of cinema. The 2001 film “AI” tells the story of a robot boy who is indistinguishable from human. The 2014 film “Ex Machina” (Dead machine) is about the drama of Eva and other human-looking robot girls that the CEO of a technology company secretly develops with AI.
Westworld, a 1973 sci-fi western film, was about androids in a playground getting out of control. The film, an AI classic, with the same name and a similar theme, was turned into an Emmy-winning series. Westworld describes the rebellion of playground robots, indistinguishable from humans, against humans who develop emotionally and enslave them.
Elon Musk, one of the leaders of global future design, is taking steps to realize the film industry’s AI script with his recently launched Project Neuralink. The project, nominated to change human history, aims to strengthen the interaction between the human brain and AI through an apparatus mounted on the skull and work increasingly integrated. The project, which for the first time commercializes work in the field of digital transfer of the human brain, claims to identify thoughts before they turn into action. The main goal is to ensure that physically disabled people, computer-connected prosthetics and online devices can work with brain signals. When Neuralink is connected to the augmented reality device, the visually impaired will have the hope of existing in the digital world and seeing digital online.
Open-ended intelligence exchange
Of course, the connection between the brain and AI is not likely to occur in the opposite direction. In other words, the conversion of electronic signals in the computer to brain signals and the introduction of AI in the human brain will be discussed for a long time. If projects like Neuralink can penetrate the human brain, the secrets of emotional intelligence and consciousness will also be further solved. Then the production of robot human will be possible with the support of artificial skin and tissue.
In another possibility, the robot does not even need to produce people. In this dystopia, with the help of a chip placed in the brain, the process of human transformation into artificial humans receiving commands from AI begins. So maybe robots won’t become human but human will become robots. Either way, AI will be much more in line with the requirements of the emotional economy and the expectations of the business world.
Humans still want to talk to people today and work and buy from human being. Then it is necessary to humanize AI more and put it in front of the consumer in the human body. But AI’s basic shortcomings, such as emotion and consciousness, have not yet been addressed. We think that’s why Elon Musk is trying to integrate human with AI with Neuralink. In the process of humanizing the machine and perhaps mechanizing the human, if the deficit of emotion and consciousness also closes, we will not be able to distinguish real people, not only on the screen, but also on the street, as in science fiction movies. Only then will we know whether the prosperity promised to humanity on the basis of AI will come true.