The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian banker says the industry cannot “blindly rely upon” artificial intelligence (AI) and instead must use it wisely to drive efficiency and productivity.

Gowon Bowe, Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) chief executive, told Tribune Business he believes most persons still want to interact with humans when it comes to their finances. He added that, if used correctly, AI will increase financial services productivity, but it can have the opposite effect if it’s “blindly relied upon” and cause more errors.

“I think some of the original professors and teachers around AI said that AI is not going to take a job from an employee. AI is going to take a job from the employee that doesn't use it and give it to the employee that does use it,” Mr Bowe said.

“And I think that's going to be a very real thing; that if we believe that our skilling stops because we are sitting in a job, we're going to become extinct. But that wasn't just AI. That is, I'm going to sayl, a phenomenon that says if you don't keep learning, you're dying on the vine. So from that perspective, I think that there's a paranoia that robots will take over. I think that that's grossly exaggerated…”

Mr Bowe said those who “want to be on, what I'm going to say, the upswing, you have to keep yourself up skilled”. An international speaker at the RF Economic Outlook agreed that upskilling and education are key to ensuring AI does not become a threat to the labour force.

Ian Khan, who spoke on the theme ‘AI tsunami: Navigating the surge of intelligent innovation’, told Tribune Business that the idea AI will eliminate jobs for humans stems from a disconnect between understanding the technology and what a person’s job is. 

“There's a disconnect there,” he added. “Number one, your expectations from AI are overblown in proportion. You think AI is going to do something big and crazy, whereas it will not. And you also think that your role, your job, is a pure task-based job that will just vanish. 

“So I think that expectation needs to have some realism in it. And I really encourage people to start thinking about their role not as a task. You have to think about your work as a value. What value do you add to a situation, to a role, to a profession, and not just what is the task that I'm performing?”

Adding that AI expectations have been blown out of proportion, Mr Khan encouraged Bahamians who feel truly threatened by its adoption in the workplace to consider upskilling.

“And if you really feel your role is 100 percent going to go away because that is exactly what is happening with people in your profession, then you start looking at upskilling right now,” Mr Khan said.

“Start looking at parallel career moves. If you're in the hospitality industry and you're doing a very particular task, look at what other careers do you have in the hospitality industry where you can do really well, and then start building yourself towards those roles and really have a hedge, have a risk mitigation plan, for yourself when it comes to your future.”

To increase productivity via AI, Mr Khan suggested companies look at what competitors and neighbours in their sector are doing and then create an AI strategy. He believes all industries can benefit from AI adoption because it is not a “one fit-all solution”, and added that there are a lot of opportunities to improve the hospitality industry in The Bahamas using the technology.

“And we're not talking about job replacement,” he said. “We're talking about improving the experience that visitors to The Bahamas get. What happens when they step out of the plane? That's where the experience starts, and it ends when they step back on their plane. 

“In between this time, there are millions of interactions that they're having. When they're coming to Immigration, when they are talking to the Immigration agent, when they are waiting for their bags, when they are getting into the taxi, when they are entering their hotel, all the way to experiencing The Bahamas in the best way until they are leaving. 

“So every interaction is an opportunity to improve it; to make it better. And if you can use technology to do it, great. If you do not need to use technology, there's an opportunity to enhance it. And I think that's so good within the hospitality industry, and other countries are doing it,” Mr Khan said.

“Other countries, Singapore and Dubai and what-not, they're spending a lot of money in investment and time and energy into making those experiences better. And I think that is such a ripe area to make things amazing in The Bahamas. In addition, there's the usual, the financial industry, the real estate industry, the insurance industry, they can really make their businesses efficient and give their customers much more value than they're doing right now because of AI.”

Michelle Weaver, executive director and head of US thematic research at Morgan Stanley, explained that AI automation substitutes labour for robotics while augmentation helps persons become better at their job by enhancing human capabilities.

“And a good example here comes from nursing, “she said. “I think we all agree nursing is a fundamentally human job. Even if a humanoid robot could walk in and help me and draw my blood, I don't want that happening. I think most people would have a very visceral negative reaction to something like that happening. 

“But there's a lot of data entry. There's a lot of ecosystems nurses have to go through. They have to look at patient information. So there are ways for nurses to use AI to make themselves way more efficient, but AI will not take their job.”

Mr Khan said while AI augmentation can help persons get their job done quicker and more efficiently, it still requires governance and so the human element is not completely removed from the equation.

“Undoubtedly, some roles, some professions, are augmented with AI, which means you can use AI as an assistant,” he said. “You can use AI as a superpower to do your job better. You can really enhance the quality of your job and what you do. You can do it even better than just you doing it alone. 

“But that doesn't mean you are out of the picture, because at the end of the day, AI needs governance. AI needs somebody to manage it. AI needs human oversight. So elevate yourself in your thinking about your role, and start thinking about what are the skills that you can add to yourself that will help you do your job better and start performing your job better with AI.”