In only the next five years McKinsey is expecting that artificial intelligence (AI) will take over 10 – 25% of all jobs available in the banking sector. More than once you might have heard about the future prospect of robots taking over millions of jobs that previously needed human intelligence (McKinsey&Company, 2017). The question that keeps arising is what the impact will be on our jobs.

A Dutch bank, Rabobank, has recently introduced a robot to train bank employees in how to deal with ‘bad-news’ conversations. With the general idea in mind that robots will take over our jobs, the bank introduced robot to show the employees that robots can also have positive effect. Before, employees would follow a training to learn how to best communicate with the customer. If they would have to deliver ‘bad-news’ by for example telling clients a loan will no longer be extended, employees would give preference to practice such a conversation.

From here on it is only a matter of time before the robot can be put to work in other areas of the bank. Take for example people applying for a mortgage, only too often these people will get home and realize they have forgotten to ask a certain question. A robot can be programmed to point out any questions that clients might have forgotten to ask. The robot will know what to suggest based on many other mortgage application conversations (Winkel, 2018).

Although AI is gaining ground fast, I believe that the opportunity in our daily jobs is bigger than the threat. In every sector, we should think about how AI can help employees in their daily tasks and routines. However, do we as students already need to take these possible changes into account? Do we need to run to our fellow accounting students and discuss whether or not they should change studies while they can? Technology is changing the field game, but how quickly do we respond?

–       McKinsey&Company. (2017). How cognitive technologies are transforming capital markets. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/cognitive-technologies-in-capital-markets

–       Winkel, R. (2018, September 18). Bankpersoneel krijgt goedgemutste robot als collega. fd.

Imagine a switch in your career choice and you are now training to become a doctor. Now if you would want to conceptualize all the medical knowledge there is, how long would it take? With the constant inflow of new information about treatments and changing medical technology, it seems impossible for humans to keep up with all these developments (Field, 2018). This is exactly the reason why I believe that artificial intelligence (AI) has potential in the healthcare sector.

It is not necessarily the physician’s intelligence that causes the largest difference between physicians, but the way they approach a patient problem(s) and the health systems that that support them. These last two factors give reason to believe that AI has the potential to grow in upcoming years. Take the developments in AI-assisted robotic surgery for example. The robots can analyze data from a patient’s medical records and are than able during a surgery to guide a surgeon’s instrument. This technique reduces the time patients’ need to recover from surgery (minimally invasive). Through AI robots are able to come up with new surgical techniques by learning from past operations (Marr, 2018).

Although the potential seems significant for the use of AI, this technology also brings its risks. Besides the risks that a patient is already exposed to during surgery, I can only imagine that robotic surgery brings risks such as the experience of surgeons with the use of the machines. But also the machine itself could fail during crucial moments. Does that not make us too dependent in life and dead situations? Does that give us reason to limit the scope of use to certain areas? Although these remain fair questions, I still believe that the minimally invasive technique that might not have existed before robotic surgery and the potential of reduced complications are benefits that outweigh the possible risks.

Sources:

–       Field, H. (2018, July). AI Is Transforming Healthcare as We Know It. Here’s a Look at the Future — and the Opportunities for Entrepreneurs. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/316430

–       Marr, B. (2018, July). How Is AI Used In Healthcare – 5 Powerful Real-World Examples That Show The Latest Advances. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/07/27/how-is-ai-used-in-healthcare-5-powerful-real-world-examples-that-show-the-latest-advances/#1116787d5dfb