Could your next boss be a robot?

RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business

Smart machines are set to change the DNA of global workplaces and the UAE will lead the game, IT whizzes believe. After driverless cars, virtual offices and the Museum of Future leading global digital trends, the country is soon expected to become home to robo-bosses.
You read it right! Don’t be surprised anymore if you step into your office and a robot assigns you your day’s work. IT experts are confident that the UAE will be one of the first few countries to experiment with artificial intelligence at executive level.
Talking to Emirates Business, Frances Karamouzis, vice president and distinguished analyst at American IT research gaint Gartner, said, “In a world of smart machines that can drive cars, beat humans at chess, advise on medical diagnoses and perform a host of other tasks, imagine the next likely step as a smart machine as a people manager. As business investment in smart machines grows, ‘robo-bosses’ will increasingly make workplace decisions that previously could only have been made by human managers.”
It is notable that according to industry predictions, by 2018, more than three million workers globally will be supervised by robo-bosses and with its ever innovating digital market, the UAE is well on track to become one of the major contributors to this trend.
“These smart machine managers will look at data derived from worker performance in new ways because of their ability to dispassionately discover previously undetected relationships and correlations, test their hypotheses, and then elevate them to production status,” she said.
Karamouzis further explained, “Supervisor duties are increasingly shifting towards monitoring worker accomplishments through measur- ements of performance that are directly tied to output and customer evaluation. Such measurements can be consumed more effectively and swiftly by smart machine managers tuned to learn based on staffing decisions and management incentives.
The predictions have raised concerns if this would mark the end of the line for the “human” managers. The topic is one of the most discussed ones in the digital market of UAE today.
“For the foreseeable future, this is not the case and that softer, relationship management skills will continue to be provided by human managers rather than robo-bosses. Smart machines simply don’t have enough nuances to manage complex human relationships, which is why humans will continue to deal with issues
such as creative leadership, worker
relations and strategic planning,”
she clarified.
While on one hand, much is being speculated, on the other hand there are experts who think this technology (robo-bosses) might not become a reality so soon.
Ashish Panjabi, COO of Jacky’s Business Solutions LLC, told Emirates Business in an exclusive conversation, “Whilst I wouldn’t say your next boss would be a robot just yet, it could be a few years from now. There are various research firms and futurists who have been talking about this but we need Artificial Intelligence and humanoid robot technology to further develop before we can safely say it is capable to be your next boss.” “With regard to the UAE, we also need to consider the fact that we speak multiple languages here and even when speaking the same language, there are a lot of different accents that need to be understood. Having tried a few technologies personally, I can still see this being a challenge for now but am sure it will be something that will sort itself out in the next few years,” pointed out Panjabi.
Zulfiqar Khan, CEO, EMS Mobile, told Emirates Business, “Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality are indeed very interesting topics at the moment especially in the Middle East, where investments in these industries and the realisation of them in the near future makes it an exciting proposition in the coming years. In terms of these technologies taking over as the ‘bosses’ is more real than you can imagine as algorithms these days are taking over key decision making roles.”
A classic example is manufacturing industries where AI (Artificial Intelligence) & Robots have already taken over thousands of jobs from humans, Khan mentioned.
“Most advanced industries like Healthcare, manufacturing, aviation and military make use of advanced AI based on available information & logic to take or drive key decisions. Another great example is Drones taking over from real pilots; the future is very exciting and scary at the same time when most lives will be dependent on robots with artificial intelligence. So yes, bosses in one shape or the other will either be replaced or heavily dependent on robots with advanced artificial intelligence,” said Khan.
Hilmarie Hutchison, General Manager, Matrix PR, told Emirates Business, “In a world where machines are being designed to do everything humans can, from playing chess, parking cars or even playing doctor at times there are some industries where the human touch is needed.” PR and media is one such field that needs constant interaction between colleagues, clients and media. So, it is unlikely to be governed or managed by bots, she opines.
“The primary duty of the manager is to lead, provide vision and help the team grow as individuals and as a unit. There is a possibility that some of the functions may get automated in the near future but vision and direction has to come from humans. So while robot bosses are possible it is not necessarily probable in all industries,” Hutchison added.

Connie, the hospitality robot

Robots have already made their debut in various other fields like hospitality. Not very long back there was news about “Connie” – the first Watson-enabled robot concierge in the hospitality industry. Connie, named for Hilton’s founder Conrad Hilton, works side-by-side with Hilton’s team members to assist with visitor requests, personalise the guest experience and empower travelers with more information to help them plan their trips.
During the official launch of the same, Jonathan Wilson, vice president, product innovation and brand services, Hilton Worldwide, said, “We’re focused on reimagining the entire travel experience to make it smarter, easier and more enjoyable for guests.”
Taking cues from the efficiency of this robot, the new robo-bosses are expected to represent a new era in computing where systems understand the world in the way that humans do – through senses, learning and experience.