by How Does Automation Enhance Human Operator Performance?
Melding human intellect with the processing power of automated systems is already transforming the workforce in ways that were not even considered possible a few short decades ago. An organization’s human labor output can be enhanced significantly with the introduction of automation and AI or machine learning applications. How do they enhance performance?
- Increase the efficiency of human operators by reducing human error.
- Save on resources by automating repetitive and mundane tasks.
- Improve the accuracy and speed of many systems, including IT, cybersecurity, and other critical business operations.
- Maximize data set usefulness by extracting valuable insights with machine learning algorithms.
In What Ways Can Humans and Machines Work Synergistically Together?
Many industries will join the massive computing and analytical power of artificial intelligence and machine learning with the problem-solving nature of human workers. This synergy will lead to new and exciting products and services, as well as breakthrough innovations in many sectors of the economy.
- Cybersecurity & Managed Threat Detection
NTT a cloud security specialist company said “In the field of cybersecurity, once the domain of human operators alone, a combination of technology and human insight is now needed to detect and remediate threats. Using only automated systems leaves organizations vulnerable to threats that have learned to avoid detection, and using only human operators doesn’t provide the level of cybersecurity needed to catch and eliminate threats before they cause damage.”
- Autonomous Vehicle Operation
Autonomous vehicle operation is notoriously tricky to get right. Even though human error is the cause of most vehicular accidents, human operators are reliable and consistently safe, considering the number of miles driven every year. Scientists at MIT are looking to design a hybrid system of remote operators and automated driving to navigate the trickier parts of driving that the AI finds difficult.
- Customer Service Representative Work
As natural language processing becomes better, much of the customer service representatives’ work could be done by an automated system but the more nuanced and challenging customer service work would still be handled by human operators.
- Manufacturing and Industrial Development
The automation of the industrial and manufacturing sector is what makes the ever-more complex and small-batch nature of manufacturing possible. According to a study published in 2021, these would be the most relevant features enabled by human-machine cooperation systems.
- Increase of: physical support, cognitive support, speed and productivity, quality control, comfort and convenience, ergonomics, worker capacity, worker safety, worker integration, and location independence.
- Decrease: mental stress, language barrier, and search times.
- Enabling: health control.
What is the Optimum Level of Human-Machine Interaction?
When systems or entities grow and change in nature, the fastest level of growth possible is always not the optimal level of growth for the sustained health of that system. That is because when there is too much change at once, systems tend to break down. The same is true for adding automation into an organization that still needs to use human workers for a portion of the tasks.
Recent studies have shown that operators who are integrating with automation technologies need to continue to have a sense of agency in their work. If they fail to do this, the result can be unsafe work conditions as a result of this over-automation. This study found that when levels of automation reached over 90%, operators lost that sense of agency, leading to a diminished rate of positive return. Consider this when automating parts of your workforce, ensuring that human operators remain engaged in their work.
Which Tasks Are Best Left to Machines?
Not every task is best accomplished by human hands. Many tasks are better suited to be completed by machines, leaving human operators with more important and difficult tasks that cannot be completely automated. What tasks are better left to be done by machines and AI systems?
- Repetitive Tasks
- Mundane and Simple Business Processes
- Highly Predictable Physical Activities
- Data Collection and Processing
Automation and the Enhancement of Human Operators
The enhancement of human operators with the help of automated systems will continue to be a critical part of many business operations, particularly as AI and machine learning programs become more advanced and useful. Be prepared to see more of these human-machine pairings as we continue to march forward into the 21st century.
