As technologies advance, the presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of things (IoT) in a variety of modern business environments are inevitable. However, even though many predict the replacement of teams by AI and IoT, the reality is that the use of these technologies is improperly perceived because they should augment the role of human teams rather than replacing them altogether.
According to the findings of the article “Why AI Won’t Replace the Facilities Team” by Pacurar for Commercial Property Executive, AI, IoT, and other machine learning systems should be used for enhancing the knowledge about the relationships between output and input variables for inferring the best decisions about facilities’ environments. The expertise of humans is required for making sure that AI and IoT algorithms work the way they are supposed to (Pacurar). Also, it is now hard for software specialists to determine when Artificial Intelligence and other solutions may become the norm for businesses because there is still a long learning process ahead to facilitate the proper use of information gathered and capitalized by technologies.
It is expected that AI and IoT trends will drive the change in the facilities departments exponentially. The current market demands are shifting to selling insights as services that include prioritization, identification of faults, energy benchmarking, and so on. Because of this, the involvement of AI and IoT is crucial for capitalizing on the provided data and facilitating the decision-making process associated with the optimization of relevant processes.
When organizations establish effective decision-making practices, the progress driven by AI and IoT will provide the most benefit to commercial office buildings because they are easier to predict about energy use. With regards to this, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things can be especially useful for optimizing heating, venting, and air-conditioning (HVAC) at facilities through the application of smart control algorithms (Xu). Naturally, the improvement of the environment at facilities will positively affect customer service and boost employee satisfaction, which is essential for organizations to achieve the set goals.
When it comes to the negative influence of AI and IoT on facilities’ environments, there is a risk of giving too much autonomy to technologies that can make independent decisions that they are not supposed to make. As mentioned previously, human input is a vital aspect for ensuring that AI and similar technologies function for the purpose of enhancing environments rather than controlling them completely.
As reported by Friehe for The Next Web, there is still an unresolved issue associated with the possibility of AI becoming independent and influencing other machinery through IoT. In return, the excessive control and independence given to AI may limit the contributions of employees who also risk harming relationships among themselves and the higher management (Manyika et al. 68). However, as long as useful technologies are kept under control and are regulated effectively, the risk of adversely influencing facilities’ environments is low.
To conclude, the use of AI and IoT is unlikely to replace facilities’ teams because the decision-making process still requires human input. Thus, technologies should be used for enhancing the existing expertise rather than eliminating it. While there are possible risks of AI gaining too much autonomy, such issues can be prevented through the alignment of benefits that technologies bring with professionals’ contributions.
Works Cited
Friehe, Torben. “How Much Autonomy is Too Much for AI?” The Next Web. 2017. Web.
Manyika, James, et al. “A Future That Works: Automation, Employment, and Productivity.” McKinsey, 2017. Web.
Pacurar, Alexandra. “Why AI Won’t Replace the Facilities Team.” Commercial Property Executive. 2018. Web.
Xu, Ray. “Using AI to Optimize HVAC Is as Easy as Riding a Bike.” RTInsight. 2017. Web.