The human touch has real value

▶ Artificial intelligence will always rely on our creative input

Investment in the digital sphere is taking many forms and permeates across industries.

Corporates are increasingly turning to technology to streamline businesses, cut operating costs and run their operations more efficiently.

In the Middle East, as part of the strategic review banks like Emirates NBD and Mashreq have or are putting funds towards broadening their digital services and cutting back on their brickand-mortar presence.

Trading floors in investment banks in the western developed markets have either been scaled down or completely disappeared.

However, the investment in technology, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) does not mean the human element is no longer required.

Technology detractors and anti-globalisation pundits who like to amplify the implications of artificial intelligence forget that it would not exist without human intelligence.

The algorithms used by social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are also rooted in the power and creativity of the human brain.

Swiss banking giant UBS is reportedly looking at recruiting staff who can help to fuel the lender’s innovative edge, according to Bloomberg. The bank is on the hunt for data scientists, software architects and business analysts.

Although corporates may be able to optimise their operations and shed up to 30 per cent of their staff, it is noteworthy that the first AI technologies were commercially available in the 1980s, but are only now coming to the fore of the business world as data analytics gain prominence in driving businesses.

Also worth highlighting is the dearth of humans today who have the required skillsets to take up AI jobs which corporates seek, according to a report by Efma and the consultancy Deloitte.

According to the survey, about nine financial service companies in 10 are working with AI technologies and the paucity of technical talent is cited as “one of their biggest challenges, especially in the final phase of projects when the need for highly trained specialists often increases”, according to the agency.

That is not surprising when the various elements at play by AI technologies are examined. These are needed to simulate human intelligence and make sense of mined data.

In a digital world where perceptions are very easily contorted and understood to be reality, advancements in technology are far from rendering the human obsolete.