More AI is coming, regardless, apparently, of whether we actually want it.
Case in point: the commercials from the Super Bowl. The New York Times, citing TV ad analytics company iSpot, reports that 15 of the 66 commercial spots featured AI-based products or services.
In its Ad Meter ranking system/contest polling viewers' opinions of the commercials, USA Today reports that the AI commercials received poor ratings, either coming in at low spots or lower than previous years.
Rolling Stone has a piece about how public sentiment on AI is already shifting.
Now, does this mean to pack it in on AI? Obviously not, because the tech companies are not going to give up until they can convince everyone that AI is the tool we're all missing from our personal and professional lives.
I have my doubts and worries about what AI is and could be capable of, but I do recognize it as a useful tool. As a tool, it can and should have specific uses. A hammer is great for nails but less so if you're trying to spread jam on toast.
My point is, definitely evaluate when and how you want to introduce AI to handle one of your company's tasks. The hotel industry has for a long time been slow to adopt new technology, and it has paid the price for that. With AI tools so abundant now, I do worry it will try using it where not appropriate.
That doesn't mean don't experiment; instead, have some idea of a threshold for failure. There may be obvious applications for it in your operations, so you've got some low-hanging fruit there. There may be some surprising areas that could work that you wouldn't know about without some trial and error. There will be areas it clearly doesn't fit.
It's that middle scenario that could cause some trouble if you're not careful. Sure, you've got to give some ideas a try, but you need to realize when you're trying to make jelly toast with hammer. Don't force it.
Also, even after you believe you've successfully integrated an AI platform into your operations, keep an eye on how it and the employees using it are doing. AI burnout is real.
The Harvard Business Review has an article about research by the University of California at Berkeley that found AI may not be the time or energy saver people hoped it would be.
Here's a Fortune story about it if you don't want to create an account with the Harvard Business Review.
The researchers wrote in their article: "In our in-progress research, we discovered that AI tools didn’t reduce work, they consistently intensified it."
Basically, the AI tools used allowed employees to work faster, take on a wider array of tasks and work longer essentially because they felt they could do more with AI and it felt "intrinsically rewarding."
"While this may sound like a dream come true for leaders, the changes brought about by enthusiastic AI adoption can be unsustainable, causing problems down the line," the researchers wrote. "Once the excitement of experimenting fades, workers can find that their workload has quietly grown and feel stretched from juggling everything that’s suddenly on their plate. That workload creep can in turn lead to cognitive fatigue, burnout and weakened decision-making. The productivity surge enjoyed at the beginning can give way to lower quality work, turnover, and other problems."
So, as with any new technology, be careful of how you introduce it and the expectations you set for employees using it, making sure your teams know that while you want them to be productive, the goal is for long-term success. Burnout helps no one.
You can reach me at bwroten@hotelnewsnow.com as well as on LinkedIn.
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