Friends or Foes: The Dynamics of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics in Managing People at Work—The Indian Experience

The fast pace of changing technologies, increased adoption of artificial intelligence and the deployment of robots have placed a heavy premium on managing people in the modern work environment. It remains questionable whether using these technologies is as friendly to workers whose fears are amplified with the possibility of being replaced, while the employers see the technologies as a means to reduce cost, exert control, promote efficiency and gain competitive advantage. Thus, a plethora of challenges have been noticed, which include managing employees’ work-life balance and well-being, job security and issues of privacy, among others, with their associated psychological implications. Managing people at work has never been more challenging, given the human-like tendencies of AI and robots, as they are considered intelligent, clever and emotionless, but may be characterized by unintended biases. The ongoing debate on whether these technologies can push humans aside (in the foreseeable future) is valid. HR managers must have critical thoughts on resourcing issues, given the disruptive possibilities. The current situation calls for a paradigm shift in human skills required at work, and rewriting job descriptions becomes necessary. Also, HR practitioners are faced with managing employees’ engagement and the disruptive changes AI and robots bring. This chapter examines the likelihood of AI and robots seamlessly co-existing with humans at work, with the latter driving human activities while technologies manage the end-to-end process.