The Behaviour Business Episode 7 - Humans Versus Machines (Part 2)

Ever since the industrial revolution, we've been using machines to do things more efficiently than humans. But we know humans are biased - so what happens when those biases are simply employed more efficiently by a machine, or becomes part of an algorithm than runs it? When Amazon built an AI to screen CVs, it instantly started screening out female applicants - because Amazon had a recruitment bias that it simply applied more efficiently. Garbage in, garbage out, as they say in tech.

So how do we prevent that happening when a human is replaced by a robot? Is it necessarily better for consumers, society or for your business, other than saving some salary costs? What problems are caused by sacrificing creativity and empathy, for certainty?

In the second part of this two-part episode of The Behaviour Business podcast, I speak to experts in technology, AI and data about what recent advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence mean for business - and the ethical problems they cause. We discuss some recent problems (e.g. Cambridge Analytica), and what behavioural science can tell us about designing products and services that work for humans, as well as robots.

You'll hear insights from Richard Chataway's interviews with these leading experts:

- Julian Harris, former Head of AI Technology Research at CognitionX, on how nuclear bombs originally had no safety guards, and how close we are to creating a super-realistic AI human;
- Jason Smith, data innovation lead at Experian and creator of BBC radio documentaries on social media and AI, on how AI might actually better find the things that make us human;
- David Chalmers, former global product manager at Google, on what happens when you replace a 40-person team with tech that can do the same job in seconds;
- Paul Armstrong, tech journalist and advisor, on why ethics boards are not enough alone to encourage tech companies to employ these solutions effectively - money talks.

Listen if you want to learn how to ethically apply technology in business, and use machines for the good of humans - not the other way round.

Buy 'The Behaviour Business' book in print, ebook and audiobook format here: https://amzn.to/37e3Mwc

Buy Paul Armstrong's book 'Disruptive Technologies: Understand, Evaluate, Respond' here: https://amzn.to/3aKDPHd