AI and Change Readiness

Since the launch of Chat GPT, there has been much debate about how AI will impact the workplace and how it could replace human workers. Business leaders like Elon Musk have been warning about the risks of AI for some time.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to predict how this will pan out. Perhaps AI will take over workplaces and make most employees redundant, or maybe it will make most employees more productive. Time will tell.

Just as AI makes computers more adaptable, powerful, and productive, change readiness makes people and organisations more adaptable, powerful, and productive. And, interestingly, it does so in similar ways.

AI is based on neural networks and deep learning. It leverages the ability to create new connections within neural networks and transfer information between these new connections. Interestingly, this is also how people learn.

The human brain contains around 86 billion neurons and approximately 60 trillion neural connections. When we learn new things, we create new connections between neurones which allows information to pass through other connections. This is how learning happens.

Change readiness is related to learning. Humans learn how to deal with change. For our ancestors, most changes developed slowly. It typically took thousands of years for new technologies to emerge, or for people to move into new geographical areas. We are reasonably good at responding to changes that pose a sudden and immediate threat – this is why we have the fight or flight response. But we are not as good at responding to changes that don’t pose an immediate threat to our survival.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn how to be ready for these kinds of changes. Given the right input, our brains will make new connections that help us behave in more adaptable ways. And not only can we learn how to think and respond more adaptably, but we can also shape our organisational environments to help us behave adaptably.

In my opinion, it is essential to develop change readiness in people and organisational systems, regardless of however AI shapes the future. The more change readiness people develop, the more likely they are to co-exist amicably with AI.

To learn more about readiness for change, reach out and let’s have a chat.