How AI can help remove bias, rather than entrench it
As long as human beings carry some kind of bias, the AI tools we develop will also carry a certain level of bias. However, if business and technology leaders can approach AI as a collaboration tool to be used by people, not solely to replace all people, there is a huge opportunity for businesses to work smarter, more strategically, and at the rapidly increasing speed the world now runs by.
Simultaneously, businesses need to weigh up the conscious and unconscious bias that comes with having people making significant decisions without the inputs of any data or AI-based tool involved. This includes making financial and health-related decisions for everyday people who may not be experts in those fields.
The profit-driven elephant in the room
Looking at any sales team in any industry, it's no secret that they will be largely driven by revenue and profits. This is largely a systemic issue in the corporate sphere, with businesses depending on revenue, profit and growth for survival. These systems push businesses to hire, train, and incentivise staff based on how much they can sell, not how well they can sell the right product for a customer's specific needs.
Consequently, we see age-old tropes like the used-car salesmen getting a bad reputation for trying to sell as many cars as quickly as possible and at the highest price, rather than offering customers something that helps them complete their day-to-day tasks.
A less obvious but highly prevalent example that is poorly understood by most Australians is the incentivisation schemes within call centres. Even comparison companies, which are often expected to help customers make better decisions, will often have incentive schemes for call centre operators. This could involve incentivising employees to sell one product, service, or brand over another. In this scenario, consumers would be much better positioned to get the best deal for their needs if an AI-based tool was used to compare the full range of service offerings available, rather than speaking to a call centre agent. Not only would there be significant benefits to the customer, but the nature of this process would put greater pressure on service providers to offer fairer products to the market.
AI can't be all things to all businesses, we need to work with its parameters
In the aforementioned call centre example, there is a clear benefit to using AI to remove bias, but that doesn't mean human intervention is completely unnecessary. In many businesses, including comparison services businesses, they are incentivised to offer a select range of services or products based on their own brands, brands they have official partnerships with, or brands that pay a certain commission or other kind of fee. When a consumer comes to look for a service, despite the illusion of choice, they are actually limited to options that financially benefit the brand.
This is where human intervention, analysis, and critical thinking can add most value. Once an AI-based tool is used to help a customer analyse a range of options and make a recommendation, consumers should be empowered to do a basic cross-check of whether that truly is the best option for them. For example, if they're looking for an electricity provider, and an AI-based tool provides a recommendation based on four providers in their area, but a basic online search shows there are actually more than 10 providers available, it's clear that the service provider is using AI to remove bias, but is still limiting the customer to fewer options than they deserve. On the flip side, if a consumer's desk research shows there are ten service providers available in the area, and the AI-based tool shows options from more than ten providers, they can rest assured they are genuinely getting more value from the AI-based tool to make the best financial decisions.
While businesses continue to explore AI, use it to add value to their customers, and iterate products based on AI's capabilities, it is critical to understand its true range of capabilities and limitations. AI presents a huge opportunity for businesses to help consumers make faster, smarter, and better choices. The combination of AI with critical thinking will help both businesses and consumers capitalise on its full potential.
