Automation and Augmentation
Practical Ethics of AI for Productivity in Retail Banking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55613/jeet.v36i1.200Keywords:
AI, AI Ethics, automation, banking, productivity, AI productivity, Artificial Intelligence, Augmentation, laborAbstract
AI is increasingly used as a tool by firms to enhance productivity, but its success has been accompanied with ethical dilemma surrounding the employment of people involved in the tasks touched by AI. The popular narrative states that AI will replace human workers, substantiated by layoffs where AI efficiency has been cited as a primary catalyst. In practice, the relationship between AI and labor ethics is more nuanced. This practice paper makes two contributions to revealing industry practices concerning AI ethics. First, using the example of retail banking, a model is provided of how firms categorize AI use-cases based on time and cognitive effort, resulting in either automation or augmentation. Second, the ethical dilemmas of both options are explored; the impact of AI automation on workforce reduction may be overstated, while the real ethical risk of augmentation is related to task circumvention and knowledge loss.
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