A lot of conversation around generative AI in the workforce feels dire, and many are speculating that when the dust of the AI revolution clears, humans, in many professional roles, will no longer be relevant. The counterpoint, however, is that AI will change how work is done but not necessarily as a replacement for humanity, but as an enhancement. 

“My team wakes up every morning thinking about, How do we discover and understand the new patterns of work, and where is work going?” said Matthew Loys Duncan, the head of future of work thought leadership at Microsoft.

“I think people are scared about change, right? But in general, I think it's the concept of change, and how willing are we to really know that with change comes growth and new opportunities. And we’ve never seen that more so than recently with AI." 

Duncan spoke with Nicole Smith, the editorial audience director for Harvard Business Review, in a fireside chat at From Day One’s December virtual conference. They discussed the emerging patterns between technology and humans, and how AI will enhance humanity in the workplace. 

Distinguishing Fad From the Actual Future

“First and foremost, let’s put the facts on the table. AI has been around for 40 years. It’s helped us correct our sentences [for years]. So it's been in our world; it’s just been behind the scenes.” 

Duncan believes AI’s potential impact on the workforce is going to be as big as the industrial revolution or the emergence of the internet. “I remember a day when there wasn’t a .com and we didn't have all this massive information. We can’t imagine a world where we don’t click and shop and it’s at my front door in a matter of hours. It’s going to have that profound of an effect.”

However, the profound impact and change is not going to come from one direction, and people will have to experiment with it. Duncan points out that people already are, indeed, experimenting with AI. “We’ve never seen such a massive experimentation—millions of people basically, overnight, started using it.”

“The challenge is always, with anything new like this, you have to experiment. [U]nderstand how it’s applicable. And what’s unique at this moment with generative AI is its usefulness. It’s only a breakthrough when it’s useful." 

From planning a vacation to a big event at your kid’s school to freelance writers experimenting with it to condense information and produce workable outlines to generating ideas—everyone is still experimenting with AI. “I think it starts with individuals, but what we’ve seen in the last almost two years is leaders that believe this is a new way of how you’re going to create greater efficiency and productivity. Or a new opportunity to innovate and create like we've never done before. I’m sure everyone’s seen the meme: It’s not that you're going to lose your job to AI, you're going to lose your place in the market to those that are applying AI,” Duncan said.

One of the ways Duncan points out AI’s inventiveness is in how it’s able to take the overload of information, all the historical data of, say, one organization and make good predictions from that data. “If you apply AI to that, you can actually, for the first time, layer over all that data and information and start to understand your business very explicitly.”

AI is transforming how businesses approach customer retention and sales as well, Duncan observed. In customer service, AI can analyze subscription data to predict churn by identifying patterns, such as reduced usage or complaints, or signaling when a customer may cancel. This allows businesses to intervene with personalized outreach—both digital and human—to retain customers. 

In sales, AI acts as a copilot, helping sales representatives sift through leads to pinpoint those with the highest conversion potential. It also provides real-time coaching, offering suggestions and strategies to close deals effectively. As Duncan put it, AI enhances decision-making “at the right time and right place.”

AI Could Potentially Make Us More Human

Another fear of AI, and indeed a problem with automated customer service already, is that it’s taking the humanity out of our interactions. This raises the question, as Smith pointed out: Will there be room for human emotional intelligence in the workplace of the future? 

Duncan seems to think so. “I have a premise that AI will make us more human.” 

He cited research Microsoft has done on human performance that points to 68% of people saying “they struggle with the pace and volume of work.” After surveying 31,000 people in 31 countries about where they focus most of their time, 60% of that time goes to emails, chats, and meetings. For every email someone sends, they have to read four. 

“There’s not enough time in the day, not enough energy to get it done. That’s where, oddly enough, AI and generative AI, in this more useful natural-language reasoning world, become[s] our assistant and really help[s] us break through.” 

Duncan says that if AI can take over mundane tasks, then it can give us back about 10 hours per month, which he says can help “unlock” what makes us and allow us to focus more on “communication, connection, empathy and relationship with other humans.”

Expanding on with that theme of lost time regained with AI, Smith pointed out a ubiquitous sentiment out there in the world: Technology hasn’t freed us from overwhelming work obligations. In fact, it has made us feel that we always have to be on. “Do you think AI is going to intensify that pressure to stay connected? Or do you think it can help us break free from our digital addiction?” Smith asked.

“When was the last time, or where were you, when you had your last great idea?” Duncan said. “I usually hear in the shower, on a run, walking my dog. What’s common there is, we’re at a place with our own mind, where we have space to think and be creative and focus, and we need to bring that back.”

Duncan touched back on the research they’ve done at Microsoft showing how AI, when utilized effectively both at work and at home, can recoup many hours of time a month lost to drudgery. “And what do you want to use with those 10 hours? And my answer is, whatever is going to make that human do better. The reality is, it’s meant to refuel and re-energize and give people the space to actually innovate and create like we’ve not been able to do for a while.”

Matthew Koehler is a freelance journalist and licensed real-estate agent based in Washington, DC. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, Greater Greater Washington, The Southwester, and Walking Cinema, among others.

(Illustration by Moor Studio/iStock by Getty Images)