In what seems like something from science fiction, the London Borough of Enfield has reportedly become the first public sector body in the world to utilise a piece of artificial intelligence software to help provide client-facing services.
Those residents of Enfield who contact the council through its website, will from later this year have their queries answered by an artificial employee called “Amelia”, a computer programme that will appear on screen as blonde lady, smartly-attired and equipped with a welcoming smile.
It is claimed that clients will be able to interact with Amelia through text or speech and that in return the software will be able to direct the client around the website, refer clients to a human operator where needed, and will even reportedly be smart enough to tailor its responses – and, more spookily, it’s facial expressions - to the emotions and reactions of the client conversing with it.
This development has obvious implications from an HR perspective, as there is the potential for this piece of software to remove the need for some types of human operator. It is worth noting that, to our knowledge, Enfield Council are not currently planning any restructures or redundancies following the introduction of their virtual employee, but it is not difficult to see that widespread use of such technology, both in the public and private sectors, may result in a reduced need for human operatives.
This new mechanisation could have a particularly significant effect on the services sector, an area that has traditionally needed a large number of (human) employees to carry out routine, high-volume tasks such as answering telephones or taking orders from customers.
This move should also be seen in the context of the UK government’s plans regarding the National Living Wage (NLW). As of April 2016, the new minimum wage for over 25s was set at £7.20/hr, and this is due to increase to a minimum of £9/hr by 2020.
Whereas many local authorities had already pledged to pay a Living Wage prior to the introduction of this new rate, many private sector organisations had not, and the subsequent increase in payroll costs over the next few years could be significant.
This will particularly be the case for organisations that rely on large numbers of lower-paid workers, such as call centres, hotels, and restaurants. Taking all of this into account, it is not difficult to see the attraction of replacing a large percentage of an increasingly expensive workforce with what is essentially a machine.
Whereas the prospect of a robot waiter or barman is some way off, organisations may be tempted to try out a computer programme that could replace a call centre, or maybe a machine that could automate the taking of orders in a fast food restaurant.
Aside from seriously impacting the workloads of HR professionals and employment lawyers, as robots don’t tend to raise grievances or take long-term sickness absence, the potential benefits of this new wave of service sector mechanisation are interesting to consider. Aside from payroll costs, an organisation’s training budget could be slashed dramatically, as the need for a costly training course is replaced with a simple software upgrade.
On a less mercenary note, another clear benefit is that employers would be able to ensure a high level of consistency and continuity in service provision, as well as making it a lot easier to ensure that work is done to a set standard and as per company policy.
Of course, these new virtual employees will have their limits. It remains to be seen whether the general public will take to virtual staff members, and there is always a risk in allowing an unsupervised piece of software to provide information to the public. A move towards virtual employees will also inevitably increase IT budgets, and will require a level of specialist knowledge that may be beyond some smaller organisations.
These are certainly interesting times, however, and we await to see if other organisations start employing virtual members of staff.
Andrew Tomlinson is a solicitor at Weightmans LLP
