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Does generative AI have a place in HR?

Generative AI is still in its early stages of development, but it can potentially revolutionise many industries. Does it have a role in HR?

17 Jan 2024

Catherine Ngo

Content writer, presenter and podcaster

According to a Tech Council of Australia and Microsoft report, Australia is on track to render tens of billions of dollars in economic value by 2030 if it accelerates the responsible adoption of generative artificial intelligence.

Gen AI could contribute as much as $115 billion a year to Australia's economy by 2030. The potential value depends on the pace at which GenAI is adopted and how well workers are supported to transition to other tasks.

The Tech Council of Australia believes that in a time of high inflation and low productivity growth, our economy needs a productivity boost, and emerging technologies like Gen AI will play a major role in the solution.

What is generative AI?

Gen AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can generate content, such as text, images, or music. It is often used to create realistic-looking images and videos, generate new text, and write different kinds of creative content.

Gen AI is still in its early stages of development, but it can potentially revolutionise many industries. For example, it could be used to create new medical treatments, design new products, and streamline the HR process.

Employers to invest in upskilling teams

Making the most out of GenAI will require an upskilling of our workforce. The technologies that underpin GenAI are rapidly evolving, and our workforce will need to keep pace if we want to remain competitive.

This means providing employees with the technical and non-technical skills they need to understand and use these technologies and the ability to adapt to new technologies as they emerge.

Upskilling our workforce will be challenging, but it is essential if we want to remain competitive in the global economy.

Automation means redesigning the workforce

Most of the contribution to the economy would come from increasing workforce productivity by automating routine tasks. On average, Gen AI has the potential capability to automate and augment 44% cent of Aussie workers' hours at its current level of capability.

Workers could focus on more value-added tasks and improve the quality of their work. For example, Gen AI in the healthcare industry can improve the accessibility of healthcare by reducing administrative tasks, which frees up time for more one-on-one patient care.

Another way it can also improve the personalisation of healthcare is through wearable devices, which can collect data on a patient against health metrics. This data can then be used to create tailored care plans for each patient's needs.

Gen AI can also be used to improve the quality and efficiency of work in other industries, such as manufacturing and transportation. In manufacturing, Gen AI can be used to automate tasks like inventory management and quality control. This can free up workers to focus on other creative and strategic tasks, which can lead to improved product quality and efficiency. In transportation, Gen AI can be used to optimise routes and schedules, which can reduce costs and improve efficiency for drivers.

Consulting firm Gartner believes Gen AI may lower the technical skills required for many roles, which broadens the pool of potential candidates. The roles most impacted by Gen AI will be redesigned with new duties or become phased out.

Employers should collaborate with HR to understand how their Gen AI investments will affect their team's duties and workflows.

Importance of oversight and responsible AI

Martin Edwards, associate professor at the University of Queensland Business School, says that from an HR perspective, "you still need that people focus, and any AI system will need human oversight".

Any system that produces, analyses, and works with employee data will need oversight to make sure that the output or recommendations it produces are not biased.

Algorithmic AI systems have long been used in HR for tasks such as processing CVs to match job descriptions. GenAI, on the other hand, has the potential for bias to creep in with inaccurate information.

Edwards believes even creating job descriptions has significant potential for bias. For example, if a GenAI system is asked to create a job description for a technical role, it will draw data from the internet, which may be biased. If the job descriptions in the data are biased, the Gen AI system's output will also be biased.

Gender-neutral job descriptions are something you'd want to be checking for or making sure the description of the roles is inclusive. A Gen AI system may not be sensitive to those things.

Gen AI content will still require human interaction and evaluation to ensure that the content is appropriate for the organisation, that there is no bias associated with it, and that it is accurate.

There can undoubtedly be time-saving benefits to using Gen AI. It has the potential to be a valuable tool for businesses and HR to streamline routine and administrative tasks. HR can also use Gen AI for HR presentations and reports. This could save a person a significant amount of time, as they would no longer need to spend hours researching and writing the content in the first instance.

It is important to note that GenAI is not a perfect tool and is still developing. It means there may be some instances where the content generated by Gen AI is not accurate or complete, which can be harmful without any oversight. Additionally, Gen AI may not be able to understand the nuances of human language, which could lead to errors in the content it generates.

You can read the full report on Generative AI from the Tech Council of Australia here.