As it pushes beyond the tech industry, artificial intelligence could make workplaces fairer—or more oppressive
随着AI应用范围超出科技行业，它可能让工作场所变得更加公平或者更加残酷。
ARTIFICIAL intelligence (AI) is barging its way into business. Firms of all types are harnessing AI to forecast demand, hire workers and deal with customers. In 2017 companies spent around $22bn on AI-related mergers and acquisitions, about 26 times more than in 2015. The McKinsey Global Institute, a think-tank within a consultancy, reckons that just applying AI to marketing, sales and supply chains could create economic value, including profits and efficiencies, of $2.7trn over the next 20 years. Google’s boss has gone so far as to declare that AI will do more for humanity than fire or electricity.
人工智能正强势闯进商业领域。各行业都在利用人工智能预测市场需求、雇佣员工、处理客户需求。2017年各公司共花费220亿美元在AI收购和合并上，大约是2015年的26倍。麦肯锡全球咨询公司认为仅仅是应用在市场、销售、供应链上的AI可能创造的经济价值和效率在未来的20年将会超过2.7万亿美元。谷歌公司老板甚至认为AI将会超过火和电对人类的贡献。
Such grandiose forecasts kindle anxiety as well as hope. Many fret that AI could destroy jobs faster than it creates them. Barriers to entry from owning and generating data could lead to a handful of dominant firms in every industry.
如此雄伟的预测点燃担忧和希望。很多人担心AI可能摧毁工作岗位的速度快于它创造的速度。拥有和创造数据的门槛，可能使得在各行业中有只少量的公司占据主导地位。
Less familiar, but just as important, is how AI will transform the workplace. Using AI, managers can gain extraordinary control over their employees. Amazon has patented a wristband that tracks the hand movements of warehouse workers and uses vibrations to nudge them into being more efficient. Workday, a software firm, crunches around 60 factors to predict which employees will leave. Humanyze, a startup, sells smart ID badges that can track employees around the office and reveal how well they interact with colleagues.
人们很少知道，但是一样的重要是AI怎么改变工作场所。通过AI管理者能够获对员工惊人的控制力。亚马逊已经获取专利的手环能够跟踪仓库工人手部的运动同时利用震动推动他们提高效率。软件公司Workday研究了60各因子预测员工的离职。创业公司Humanyze销售的智能ID能够跟踪办公司员工并且显示他们和同时的互动情况。
Surveillance at work is nothing new. Factory workers have long clocked in and out; bosses can already see what idle workers do on their computers. But AI makes ubiquitous surveillance worthwhile, because every bit of data is potentially valuable. Few laws govern how data are collected at work, and many employees unguardedly consent to surveillance when they sign their employment contract. Where does all this lead?
在工作中存在监视已经不是什么新鲜事。工厂工人一直以来打卡上班下班；老板也已经可以看到懒惰的员工在电脑上做什么。但是AI使得全面监控更有价值，因为每一个小的数据都有潜在的价值。很少有法律监管工作数据被收集，而且很多员工在签订雇佣合同时毫无戒心的接受了监控。这将导致什么样的结果。
Start with the benefits. AI ought to improve productivity. Humanyze merges data from its badges with employees’ calendars and e-mails to work out, say, whether office layouts favour teamwork. Slack, a workplace messaging app, helps managers assess how quickly employees accomplish tasks. Companies will see when workers are not just dozing off but also misbehaving. They are starting to use AI to screen for anomalies in expense claims, flagging receipts from odd hours of the night more efficiently than a carbon-based beancounter can.
开始于优点。AI应该能够提高生产力。Humanyze 公司将其员工工牌的数据、日程表和电子邮件的数据合并分析是否办公室布局有利于团队合作。Slack一个办公室通讯工具帮助管理者估算员工完成工作任务的效率。公司还使用AI筛查报销申请中的异常，标记收据中晚间异常时段，比那些会算账的真人更有效率。
Employees will gain, too. Thanks to strides in computer vision, AI can check that workers are wearing safety gear and that no one has been harmed on the factory floor. Some will appreciate more feedback on their work and welcome a sense of how to do better. Cogito, a startup, has designed AI-enhanced software that listens to customer-service calls and assigns an “empathy score” based on how compassionate agents are and how fast and how capably they settle complaints.
员工也会有收获。由于计算机视觉的进步，AI能够检查工人是否穿好了安全设备并且监视是否有人在车间里受伤。有些人将会很高兴收到跟多的工作反馈并且乐于知道如果做的更好。一家创业公司Cogito已经设计了一款AI增强软件它能够监听客服电话并且，根据客服的同情度、解决客户投诉问题的速度和能力分配一个‘同情分’。
Machines can help ensure that pay rises and promotions go to those who deserve them. That starts with hiring. People often have biases but algorithms, if designed correctly, can be more impartial. Software can flag patterns that people might miss. Textio, a startup that uses AI to improve job descriptions, has found that women are likelier to respond to a job that mentions “developing” a team rather than “managing” one. Algorithms will pick up differences in pay between genders and races, as well as sexual harassment and racism that human managers consciously or unconsciously overlook.
机器能够帮助那些理应得到升职加薪的人。这些开始于招聘阶段。人经常会有偏见但是算法如果被设计的正确就会更加的公正。软件可以可以标记人可能错失的模式。一家创业公司Textio使用AI改善岗位描述，发现女性更有可能应聘那些描述'发展'的团队而不是那些描述'管理'团队的工作。算法将会发现薪酬在不同性别和种族中的差异，以及人类管理者有意或者无意忽略的性骚扰和种族歧视。
英文原文来自：www.economistasia.com
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