Chapter 1: What is the impact of AI on workplace productivity?
AI is sneaking into the workplace and keeping an eye on things. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace Tech. I'm Stephanie Hughes. Thank you so much for having me. I had him walk me through what he's seeing businesses try and what they're using at his company. That includes one HR tool that his company makes and sells called Galileo. The meeting recording ones are the simplest.
Most people are familiar with them. They're recording a meeting and then at the end of the meeting or during the meeting, They're showing you visually data like a summary of what was discussed, who discussed what topic.
Chapter 2: How do AI tools like Galileo enhance meeting productivity?
Microsoft, for example, has a little bunch of bars that show who talked when, so you can sort of visually look at who's talking and scroll across to that part of the recording. The tool that we use internally, the Galileo tool that we use in our company,
can not only do all that, but you can ask it questions like, you know, can you assess the skills of this person in this domain based on the conversation they had? You can ask it, what did these people talk about? I mean, you can literally ask it any open-ended question and it'll analyze all of the recorded information it has.
And in addition to this AI analysis of meetings, you guys also use a tool where if a coworker isn't available, people are able to reach out to that person's digital twin. So you have one, I understand, you know, tell me how this digital Josh is created. Right.
What the digital Josh is doing in our implementation is it's reading all of my emails, it's reading my documents, the ones that I put into the public, into the company stuff, and it's keeping track of whatever recordings of meetings I've had. So it knows who I'm talking to, what I'm talking to them about.
Chapter 3: What is a digital twin and how is it used in the workplace?
So it, over time... knows a lot about what I'm doing at work. So in my particular case, since I'm the CEO and I'm an analyst, people like to ask me questions about stuff. They can ask my twin and they'll probably get the same answer as almost the same answer I'd give them over the phone. So like your employees can be like, hey, I have a question for Josh. Josh isn't free right now. Yeah.
And the other thing that's really fascinating, Stephanie, is these things pick up your speaking style and your writing style. So the digital twin actually sort of sounds like me. Because it's been reading my wording and the way I phrase things for so long, it'll use the same words that I use.
Chapter 4: How does AI change the way we take notes during meetings?
So... You know, we don't use an avatar and a voice. I mean, we could add that. I just thought that would be kind of silly. We don't need it. But it's an amazing, you know, innovation that's come from AI. Do you ever think about, okay, I need to add, you know, this is a simple question. I'll take it to the digital twin or no, I need the real person. I'll wait. Yeah, yeah, of course.
Chapter 5: What challenges do employees face with increased monitoring?
I mean, I think, you know, some of the work we do is taking complex information and framing it and communicating it in a way people can understand it. And that is not, you know, a black or white thing. There's a lot of conversation that has to happen. So there are plenty of times where,
The digital twin will tell you just enough to get you to, you know, sort of to the next step of whatever you're trying to accomplish. But you still want to talk to the person later. So maybe instead of having five conversations for an hour each, you have one conversation for 30 minutes. So it doesn't do away with the need to talk to people.
But, I mean, there's a lot of information that we do not need to call people to get. We'll be right back.
Chapter 6: What should employers consider when implementing AI monitoring tools?
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Chapter 7: How can AI be used positively in the workplace?
Josh, do you think that when there is increased monitoring of workers online, does it make them more likely to focus on being online and neglect offline productivity? Like if it's not done with keystrokes and a mouse, it doesn't count. Well, to some degree, yeah, because I think most people don't want to take notes on their piece of paper.
I mean, honestly, I'm at the point now where since I know most meetings are recorded, I don't really take notes anymore. I used to scratch notes sort of for visual recognition to remember things. Yeah, and I still do it. And I sometimes look at the piece, like I'll write down a word that I really want to remember or a name. But I don't take notes.
I mean, I used to take notes on the whole conversation. I used to write down everything people were saying so I'd remember it. So most people, from a productivity standpoint, love these tools. But there is a lot of work we do that's not necessarily being done that the computer knows about. For example, I spend a lot of time reading. No, I mean, and I'm the same way, Stephanie.
I read a lot and I listen to podcasts and all that stuff. I'll tell you the funny thing that happens to me. I'll go to a physical meeting at a conference or at a lunch or something, and I'll have this incredible conversation with somebody. And then I'll go back to my office and I'll say, Man, I wish I had recorded that because I'm so conditioned to using the recording.
I almost wonder if our normal memory process is going to change a little bit. We're going to get a little lazy. And I have to very, you know, because I'm an analyst, I have to very carefully concentrate on what people are saying to try to make sure I'm understanding the big picture from what they're communicating to me.
But I think most people are going to become so familiar with having recorded conversations that they're just going to change their behaviors. And I'm talking about the productivity part, not the security and the, you know, all the privacy stuff. But on the positive side, I have never heard anybody say that they don't like it.
What should bosses or employers keep in mind as they think about using these different AI monitoring tools? I think you have to be really open with people that it is happening. But if people start to feel that their recordings are being used to evaluate them or against them, I think it's going to make them very hard to do their jobs and it's going to make them very uncomfortable at work.
So the reason to pose it in a positive light is there's all sorts of creative things that people can do with it. that are really productive and interesting and useful. So I personally am not a big fan of using surveillance surreptitiously to try to evaluate people. I think that's going to backfire in most cases. Josh Burson is an HR industry analyst and consultant.
Jesus Alvarado produced this episode. I'm Stephanie Hughes, and that's Marketplace Tech. This is APM. Technology shapes the economy, our jobs and our daily lives. Marketplace Tech brings you the information and context you need to keep up. Your support keeps this reporting independent, human-centered and focused on helping you understand the consumer-centric side of advanced technologies.
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