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AI Can Tackle Benefits Management. What About Interpersonal Issues in the Workplace?
Some companies are using agents for employee experience, learning, and development. Ethicists are questioning if AI should be used in circumstances requiring empathy.
“The value that I put on that data is very different when it’s coming from an AI than when it’s coming from you. And the validation I might feel by telling somebody my story or asking my question directly to a human isn’t there when you’re interacting with an AI,” Skeet said. “The AI might simulate that kind of reaction, it might make you feel like you’re being listened to and heard in a certain way. It might try and use some words that express empathy or sympathy, but it’s still a machine.”
“The ability to collaborate, to improvise, to work together—all of those things that are uniquely human and also involve some human judgment, where you need to have human wisdom come forward, not just an algorithm that’s predicting what’s likely to come next,” she said. “The fundamental principle is keeping the choice about whether or not to use AI grounded in human dignity.”
Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by .