AI may boost individual productivity but undermine workplace innovation: panellists
It could lessen collaboration among colleagues and crimp the diversity of ideas within organisations
Artificial intelligence may increase employee productivity, but researchers warn that excessive reliance on the technology could diminish workplace collaboration and stifle innovation, panelists at the Insead AI Forum Asia have cautioned. Martin Gonzalez, head of organisational AI research at Google DeepMind, described this shift as a "self-sufficiency spiral" during a panel discussion.
With workers turning to AI tools for answers rather than consulting colleagues, organizations risk losing the human interactions that foster creativity and transmit workplace culture, Gonzalez explained. The panelists also expressed concerns about the diversity of ideas generated within organizations. Phanish Puranam, a professor of strategy at Insead, noted that while AI can improve the quality of individual ideas, it may narrow the collective range of ideas, potentially leading to fewer diverse perspectives.
This has implications for innovation, as diverse ideas are key to the creative process. Preliminary findings from experiments suggest that teams using AI agents for brainstorming exercises converged on ideas more quickly but explored fewer possibilities and felt less ownership over the ideas generated. To counteract this, Puranam suggested using personalized AI tools for individual users rather than relying on shared AI agents, as these tools can adapt to each user's context and generate a variety of responses, thereby preserving diversity of thought.
Written by urgent.news from The Business Times - Singapore's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
