As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes a fundamental component of every enterprise’s core infrastructure, HR leaders need to grasp its core concepts to stay relevant in the changing landscape.
Simply put, AI refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. These processes include learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and linguistic understanding. Understanding AI is not about becoming a tech expert, but about enabling you to make informed decisions that enable you to achieve your HR objectives.
This article provides a breakdown of some of the key terms surrounding AI, so you can walk into your next meeting feeling super savvy.
Automation: Your Digital Helper
Imagine having a digital helper that can do repetitive tasks for you without needing your constant input. That’s automation! It’s like setting your coffee maker to start brewing in the morning so you wake up to a fresh cup. In the recruitment world, automation could be sending automatic replies to emails, or scoring interviews to help recruiters find the right people faster.
AI: The Smart Brain
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a broad concept that refers to the development of machines that can do tasks that typically require human intelligence. These tasks include problem-solving, learning, understanding natural language, speech recognition, and visual perception, among others. For the users, AI is like giving machines a smart brain. It’s when computers can learn from experiences, recognize patterns, and make decisions on their own.
Machine Learning (ML) and Generative AI (Gen AI) discussed below are both subsets of AI. Beware that the terms AI and ML are used interchangeably. This is not wrong given ML is a subset of AI.
ML: Computers that Learn Like Us
Machine Learning (ML) is like giving machines the ability to learn and improve without being explicitly programmed. It involves the use of algorithms and statistical models to enable a system to improve its performance on a specific task over time.
Think of ML as your virtual buddy who learns your preferences based on what you’ve watched before and suggests movies you might like on streaming platforms. In the recruitment world, ML technologies help recruiters pick the best candidates by learning from past hiring/performance patterns. However, most of these applications are usually limited to scoring (eg: scoring movies according to your preference) or categorizing (recommended/not-recommended candidates).
Now how is AI/ML linked to Automation? Not all automation requires the smarts. For example, sending automatic replies to emails only requires a bit of programming. Automating complex tasks that would otherwise require human decision-making (these are usually complex tasks that cannot be completed following simple rules or a procedure) requires AI/ML capabilities.
Gen AI: The Creative Machine
Generative AI (Gen AI) is going a step further from traditional ML applications (which are mostly scoring and categorizing). It is like having a computer that can be creative. It’s not just following instructions; it can come up with new things. In everyday life, this could be like a computer that writes poetry or generates new recipes by understanding patterns and styles from vast amounts of data it has been trained on. This creative aspect makes generative AI a powerful tool in fields like content creation, design, and innovation. In the recruitment world, it might help create unique and exciting job descriptions to attract top talent or supplement automated interview scoring with explanations.
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