📌 The Great AI Debate: Retrain or Replace Humans?
✅ Write an Intention Statement to Guide You
Summary: In this newsletter, I discuss the ethics involved in corporations implementing AI tools. I outline the importance of and steps to creating an “intention statement” to guide leadership through these complicated issues.
Last week I presented a guide for using AI in your personal life and job.
The Practical Use Guide for AI is meant to help you maintain an AI life balance. The four principles remind you not to rely too much on AI but to keep perspective as robots become more entrenched in the workplace.
While determining the personal use of AI may be relatively straightforward, a corporation’s use is not so easy.
AI and the House of Mouse
I recently heard from a Disney insider that the Mouse leadership is struggling with AI on all fronts. So, I decided to turn my attention to corporations using AI and create a guide for business AI implementation and use.
As a reminder, I lost my biggest client to AI and was essentially replaced (without any prior notice) by the robots. My mission is to create a human-centered, compassionate guide for businesses that are currently considering eliminating humans in favor of robots.
For example, do you disclose to customers if a product was designed by AI instead of humans? Do you replace the workforce with robots, or must you retrain the human elements to maintain an ethical front? What’s the cost analysis of doing so?
Do you have a responsibility to your employees to retain your human workforce, or do you have a greater responsibility to your stakeholders to save that money by downsizing to a robot workforce?
There are lots of complex questions to be worked through.
Salesforce Goes Fully Automated with AI
Last week, SalesForce CEO Marc Benioff announced a ‘hard pivot’ to autonomous AI agents, signaling the robots filling the workforce. It was described as “a shift from humans in the loop to humans at the helm.”
Here’s my question: how many humans do you need at the helm? I argue it all comes down to cost analysis. Robots work for free, which boosts the bottom line of any company.
Read for yourself: Exclusive: Marc Benioff has declared a ‘hard pivot’ to autonomous AI agents.
Retrain or Replace?
The question becomes whether corporations retrain or replace, and I believe this will become one of the most pressing arguments of our time.
While most corporations express a commitment to ethics, the extent to which they prioritize ethical behavior varies depending on things like leadership, industry, and public accountability. There are several reasons for leadership to pay attention to ethics:
Reputation and Trust: Consumers and investors are more socially conscious than ever. Companies with ethical practices can build trust and loyalty, while unethical behavior can result in boycotts, bad press, and reputational damage.
Regulatory Compliance: Many industries face strict regulations, and adherence to ethical standards helps avoid legal issues. Ethical lapses can lead to costly fines, lawsuits, and government scrutiny.
Sustainability and Social Responsibility: Many companies integrate ethics into corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, focusing on environmental sustainability, diversity, and fair labor practices as part of long-term business strategies.
Talent Retention and Morale: Employees increasingly want to work for companies that align with their values. A strong ethical culture can help attract and retain talent, boosting overall morale and productivity.
Risk Management: Ethical business practices can help mitigate risks like data breaches, scandals, or negative public sentiment. AI ethics, for example, ensures responsible data usage and minimizes bias in automated decisions.
All of these factors will play a part as corporations decide whether to retrain or replace their human workforce.
My disclosure: The above list was written with the aid of ChatGPT.
The Intention Statement
Before discussing any specific issues mentioned above, though, we must create an intention. Leadership must take the actionable step of forming an intention statement, similar to a mission statement but much more urgent.
In my book Unio: The Art of Intentional Community Building, I discuss writing an effective mission statement extensively. Since its publication, I’ve facilitated many corporate training sessions and delivered keynote speeches on developing mission statements. However, I’ve often noticed a disconnect between mission and action. This is where an intention statement comes in.
While a mission statement guides the corporate ship in a lofty vision-type way, an intention statement is a stopgap that keeps the ship on track. I’ll use a medical doctor’s practice as an example of a mission statement vs. an intention statement.
Example Mission statement: "Empowering patients on their journey to optimal health. We are committed to compassionate, personalized care that heals the whole person and promotes lasting well-being."
Example Intention Statement: “Do no harm.”
As you can see, an intention statement is much more urgent and keeps the doctor on track in a way the mission statement does not. Corporations must also employ this stopgap while implementing AI in the workplace.
Writing an Intention Statement
To create a simple yet meaningful intention statement for AI in the workplace, similar to "do no harm" in a doctor's office, leadership can use the following steps:
Identify Core Values: Define the company’s core values as they relate to three key areas: 1) People (employees, stakeholders, and customers), 2) ethics, and 3) technology innovation. This is the time to define how you want the technology you use to benefit employees, customers, and society at large. This is the step where you focus on the positives of using tools like AI.
Define Ethical Boundaries: Clarify the ethical limits of AI use, such as prioritizing human judgment in critical decisions, safeguarding privacy, or avoiding job displacement without retraining opportunities. Of particular importance is the cost-analysis decision on whether there will be retraining or elimination and how that decision will be made compassionately and ethically. This is the step where you focus on the negatives of using tools like AI.
Focus on the Human Element: Emphasize the importance of human skills, creativity, and well-being. The intention statement should reflect a commitment to enhancing the workplace without diminishing the human role. This is the step where you determine whether you will retain or replace, and if the decision is made to eliminate a human role, outline the specific cost-analysis “bottom line” that determines this decision.
Engage Stakeholders: Gather input from various stakeholders, including leadership, employees, and possibly even customers, to understand concerns, expectations, and hopes about AI’s role in the workplace. This will ensure that your statement resonates with the broader community. This is the step where you get buy-in from key parties.
Keep It Simple and Actionable: Use the above brainstorming to create a simple intention statement. It should be short, memorable, and actionable—something everyone can easily understand. It should define how AI is integrated into the organization’s culture. This is the step where you actually write the short, simple intention statement.
Example 1: "Enhance, don’t replace – use AI to empower our people."
Example 2: “AI for human progress.”
Example 3: “Innovation, efficiency, and products first.”
The best thing about going through the steps above is that you have already laid the groundwork for the next step: writing the AI-use handbook that will become an official part of a corporation’s operating procedures.
In the next newsletter, I will outline the steps for writing that AI-use manual, including tips to ensure company-wide adoption of the principles.
Does your company already have an SOP for AI use? If so, I’d love to hear about it! Hit reply or comment with your thoughts on whether you think it is an effective tool or not.
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