” Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks.”   Stephen Hawking

“The thing that’s going to make artificial intelligence so powerful is its ability to learn, and the way AI learns is to look at human culture.”   Dan Brown

“What makes us distinctly human doesn’t have a lot of economic value attached to it at the moment.”   Jennifer Gerves-Keen

“Karma of humans is AI.”   Raghu Venkatesh

My wonderful clients are mostly Millenials and largely women. There are exceptions. I do have a few male clients and my clients span the various age brackets. Two of my young clients who recently told me that they have “woken up in 5D” have exchanged their previous concerns for a new one. Artificial Intelligence. (AI)

In so many ways the worries of my Millenial clients mirror my concerns when I was their age. Even though I am many decades older than them, chronologically, their concerns mirror mine at their age. I feel honoured to be able to pass on to them the messages from their Angels and ascended masters and loved ones on the Other Side. I love that I have their confidence with regard to how to live a healthy, mindful life that escapes the tyranny of technology. Of course, my clients are already more interested in communicating with Angels rather than robots. At their age, and now, so was I, although it was many years before I honed my natural psychic abilities to where they are currently.

In my 30s I too was concerned with “the machine in the garden.” In fact, my M.A. thesis in English Literature revolved around that theme and how Charles Dickens and D.H. Lawrence, concerned about increasing industrialization, blended social realism and moral fable to create a new vehicle of consciousness. So, you can tell that humans becoming slaves of technology has always been a concern of mine. Now, I have my clients bringing their concerns about this to me. The Law of Attraction in operation. Like attracts like.

Perhaps ironically, having young, intelligent, aware clients share their own reservations with me about becoming slaves to the machine fills me with optimism that instead of succumbing to the tyranny of technology we will dis-cover at a deeper and deeper level what it means to be human (as well as divine) and we will create a more people-centric world rather than a technology-centric world.

My own personal world at Angel Cottage is technology-lite, by choice. So, I decided to do some research on how people in the Human Resource departments are experiencing and perceiving AI in the workplace. Fortunately, one of my male clients works within Human Resources and he provided me with their most recent magazine called “PeopleTalk” published this summer 2018 out of British Columbia and the Yukon. It gave me numerous articles to read by thought-leading professionals in the Human Resources industry.

Clearly, from reading this magazine, an AI future brings Human Resources challenges. In fact, President & CEO Anthony Ariganello, of the B.C and Yukon branch states: “While Elon Musk thinks AI will bring on the end of the world & Mark Zuckerberg thinks we are on the cusp of a tremendous evolution… I look to points in between. It’s amazing and a little bit scary, but I think we only benefit in the long run. More importantly, while it’s a reality that we might be able to avoid or unplug from in our offtime, it is one we very much need to come to grips with in the workplace.”

As Ariganello reveals in his message regarding AI in the workplace, Human Resource professionals are caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place as AI is “expected to expand into previously unimagined professional realms.” He says how this will impact our lives is a question that neither Siri nor Alexa have been able to answer for us, yet. “Yet” is the key word that stands out for me in Ariganello’s message.

AI in the workplace is here to stay, like it or not and the Human Resource professionals feel up to the challenges. Maybe because there is no choice other than to retreat from their organizations? Susan Ryan says, “I remind myself as a mother of three Millenials that what seems future-fringe to me at times, is part and parcel of their daily milieu – and that is where the working world is actually headed.”

Jason McRobbie, the editor of “People Talk” reminds us that AI has lived within our imagination for generations: “From Isaac Asimov’s fundamental robot laws to Kubrick and Spielberg’s big screen treatments to Stephen Hawking’s greatest fears; fundamentally speaking, artificial intelligence has lived within our imagination for generations in various guises – servant, savior and nemesis alike.”

Some folks do not hesitate to admit that some of the comparative advantages that humans have traditionally enjoyed, relative to technology, are disintegrating. The result of so much automation and technology has resulted in what people call today the “gig economy.” This refers to organizations hiring contractors/consultants or ‘farming out’ the work which means fewer full-time regular employees. Jennifer Gerves-Keen states: “AI is not like the technologies we have created up to this point… as it is actually independent  and sustainable because of the way it can evaluate situations, act accordingly and learn from its actions – perhaps better than humans do. For the very first time we are seeing human-centered jobs such as customer service, real estate and design being given a technological alternative.”

Life-long learning is wonderful; however, it used to be a choice we made. Now, today, it is recognized as the only certain strategy in order to be proactive and ready for anything says new Australian grad Vishal Sikka. However, as Gerves-Keen reminds us, along with life-long learning we need to ask what kinds of organizations – and societies – do we want to create?

Natalie Michael asks, “Would you rather talk to a call service agent or a bot?” Natalie, I would most definitely rather speak to a human being! Natalie realizes that in the years to come, as more and more business processes get automated, customers may, in fact, prefer to be served by a human rather than a computer.

Kim Toews, a Human Resources executive, does not feel that a robot can replace a human being: “It is not about data, it’s about real insights. I’m not sure if we will ever get fully formed insights without human experience.”

In the world I researched – the latest rave is Ava. It is all about Ava. Paul Sywulych , part of the team at Morneau Sheppell that developed Ava says, “If you want to ask questions about a restaurant or make reservations for dinner, you go to Siri, Alexa or Google. However, if you want the Siri of Human Resources you go to Ava, the Human Resources virtual assistant.” Ava can answer 350 questions currently and more are being added. Within a few months it is expected Ava may have the capability to answer ‘what if ‘ questions and three years down the road much greater interactivity is expected – Ava may be helping people “create a career plan and goals, then check in to see if the person is meeting their goals.” (Norah Joyce, co-developer of Ava)

According to many in the know, the 9-5 workday, the traditional desk and office and in-person meetings are all effectively obsolete due to the influence and growth of digital and mobile technologies. Obviously, along with what I feel is an even more increasingly depersonalized world, it has also enabled people to work and travel simultaneously due to the creation of tools such as Zoom, Praditus, and Coworker that are available to allow the management of teams in various locations. (I have a client who spends most of her time away from the home base of Kingston, lying on a beach in another country due to these tools!) Slack is a favourite tool for many as apparently instant messaging has replaced phone calls and emails allowing any person to ask a colleague a quick question as if they were across the desk in front of them – rather than speaking to someone 3,000 miles away whom they’ve never met.

I think one of the comments one of the creators of Ava made is scary to many. Gerves-Keen says, “There is even a fair amount of noise within organizations around the possibility that artificial intelligence will be able to create experiences so life-like that the need for human contribution would be rendered obsolete.” Thankfully, she feels “this is unlikely.”

Due to the fact, Gerves-Keen says, that what makes us distinctly human doesn’t have a lot of economic value attached to it at the moment, she says, “How do we start valuing skill sets that up until now have often been seen as nice-to-haves?” She asks if we could even imagine a world where people who work primarily with empathy in roles as counselors, social workers and care aids are being valued higher and paid more than engineers and technologists in our society? She says that it is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Howie Outerbridge feels we must begin to look at AI as a business partner not a replacement. “Siri helps us send hands-free text messages while we drive. Cortana reads our emails and tracks our location. Alexa plays our favourite music while we make dinner. From smartphones to Fitbits & kids’ toys to Kindles, the technology tract continues to evolve – and tracks us in turn as it does. Outerbridge feels that with the advancement of AI into more and more realms of our personal and professional lives that more than ever “the opportunity – and onus – is upon us as individuals to more deeply explore our human potential.”

Way back, 1999, Dr. Edward Hallowell wrote an article for the Harvard Business Review called “The Human Moment at Work.” Hallowell defines the human moment as “an authentic encounter that can only happen when two people share the same physical space.” Way back then, Hallowell gave this a name because he felt it was starting to disappear from “modern life.” Jennifer Curleigh & Lori Corcuera are “elevating life experiences at work” and they feel Hallowell was onto something. They say that “the human moment” has 2 prerequisites: “physical presence and emotional and intellectual attention.” They say ” a human moment can be businesslike and brief but changes everything. People begin to think in new and creative ways after just five minutes of face to face interaction.” As you can tell by Hallowell’s definition, being jammed into an aircraft with people around you that you never speak to is not considered a human moment. There needs to be engagement.

What happens when human moments disappear? Our brains replace it with anxieties. Emails, texting, Slack and chatbots removes the quintessential clues & cues – body language, facial expressions and our tone of voice – which communicates so much and lessens the gravity of our worries. Science has proven, long ago now, that positive human -to-human contact decreases the level of stress hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol. It also increases the hormones that promote trust and bonding. Oxytocin & Vasopressin. These hormones are present when we feel empathy for another human and are suppressed in the absence of human connection. “…people need human contact to survive. If that’s not enough, we need human contact for mental acuity and emotional wellbeing … Our brains are fuelled by variety, rest and human contact. Without this fuel, we do not operate at our peak.”   (Curleigh & Corcuera)

Sarah Wilson says that “in a world where you can have any piece of information available to you at the swipe of your finger, we need to focus on using technology to help us create more intimate relationships… not divide us further.” Ian Gibson asks us the question, how do we “be real” in a world of abundant artifice?” As Curleigh & Corcuera say of the presence of chatbots in the Human Resources systems “performing human-like tasks is not the equivalent of being human. We cannot connect with a chatbox.” Amen to that!

What makes us distinctly human –  such as intuition, imagination, creativity and empathy may not, as yet, bring high monetary rewards  – but it brings true fulfillment. And I have faith that those of us waking up in 5D, like my readers and my amazing clients, will use our concerns over AI to relish our human moments even more & to embark on an even deeper exploration of what ‘being human’ actually means.

Love & Light,   Monica