How will AI impact human behaviour?
It’s hard to avoid AI these days.
What’s harder to understand is the impact it will have on humans, how we operate as individuals and how we operate in teams.
There are some data points though that might give us some clues.
A couple of weeks back, the Economist ran a fascinating article titled “What Tennis Reveals about AI’s impact on human behaviour”.
The key points from this article were:
AI (the Hawkeye system) has been in use since 2006.
A behavioural economist, David Almog, a behavioural economist from Northwestern University analysed the interaction between man and machine (AI) and has found fascinating insights into how human behaviour has changed as a result of AI.
At a headline level, Hawk-Eye oversight has prompted human officials to up their game and make 8% fewer mistakes than before it was introduced.
However, when it came down to one particular area (serves), they say the error rate soared. For every 100 mis-hit serves Pre AI, 26 mis-serves were unchallenged. With AI, it rose to 39 that were unchallenged.
Why the change? What was going on?
The researchers speculated that human officials take the less reputationally risky option, even if it leads to more incorrect calls.
Overlooked faults are less disruptive in tennis than incorrect cries of “out” because these end the point prematurely.
They can also trigger dissent from both the player and the crowd when the error is identified on the big screen.
What’s the Insight
Both data points show that having AI changes human behaviour.
One positive and one negative.
Yes, it’s a simple example with binary yes/ no outcomes.
But it does point to a direction of how our behaviours may change.
If we feel we are going to be “outed” or “second-guessed” by technology will that sharpen our skills and attention to detail?
Or will it lead to worse decision-making.
It’s hard to know the answer, but we should at least become aware of the fact that how we make decisions, and how we evaluate and weigh up information is likely to change.
My Suggestion: start paying attention to how tech changes our behaviours - what difference is making to how you make decisions, to how your team makes decisions. It certainly will have an impact and being alert, aware and ready to act differently based on the insights could be a real advantage. I truly believe the single biggest competitive advantage any business can have is the speed at which we adapt and learn. And that all starts with paying attention to the right things.