CIPD 2018: Language of AI and automation spreads fear

The language of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation is misused and incites fear among the workforce, according to a panel on day two of the 2018 CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition. Speaking during a panel session called'Will automation and artificial intelligence (AI) help or hinder good people management?', Andrew Spence, HR transformation director at Glass Bead Consulting, said that there's "fear-mongering" in the rhetoric that "the robots will take our jobs". "The word robot comes from the word'robota', which means slave so the language puts fear in people," he said. But the "term AI has a naming problem in itself", he continued, pointing out that there are multiple ways people would define the word intelligence. Cheryl Allen, HR director transformation at Atos, agreed that "people use AI as a general [term] and so many words are used interchangeably".