You’ve probably read the same case studies as me about the ‘industry that didn’t adapt (or change)’. Trains, the ice trade, tour operators, postmen, music etc…you can take your pick, the pattern was the same.
First, they ignored the trend, then they fought the trend, then they were destroyed by the trend.
Did you ever think reading these stories “that won’t happen to me, I’m too smart!”.
This morning is the time to test that assumption.
Are you proactively exploring how you could use AI to reduce your workload by 90%?
What happens to your superuser program when people can just ask Siri or Alexa on their phones and get the best possible answer?
What happens to the community manager when a chatbot can greet members, introduce them to each other, remove bad actors/content better and guide them to participating quicker than they can?
What happens when reports are automatically generated and acted upon?
But people want the empathy of another person doing this work right. No-one wants a machine to do these tasks. People want to feel listened and responded to by a real person.
That’s almost the exact same response our operators, stock market brokers, milkmen, postmen, and checkout assistants used to give (and soon Uber drivers too).
A better expression here is denial.
Artificial Intelligence in its myriad of forms is happening right now on the fringes. It might stay on the fringe for 1 year, even 5 years. But when it moves it will move fast and I’d recommend you take action now.
Who is doing AI and community well? How can you make it work for you? Who can best figure out the shift in work from person to machines?
I’d bet the person who can answer these questions won’t be out of work when the inevitable happens.