The Human Algorithm: Why AI (Authenticity + Integrity) Matters More Than Ever
Hey, Corporate America–
AI is coming for you!
But of course, you already know that.
Last month, Amazon laid off 14,000 employees, indicating this number could more than double, and explicitly linking many cuts to increasing use of AI tools in place of white-collar work. In fact, companies across sectors are citing AI and automation as major factors in the rising number of workforce reductions that have affected over 184,000 workers between the start of this year and early November.
Key takeaway: the robots are coming and they are taking our livelihood.
Well, maybe? But also–no.
Because, alas, we’ve been here before–a fact that can help us, if we choose to identify and learn from life’s unexpected cycles and subsequent patterns of growth.
And so, I give you: the printing press.
Prior to the invention of the printing press around 1440, every written record was transcribed by scribes who specialized in painstakingly preserving creativity and knowledge. When the printing press came along, this once sought-after repetitive labor became obsolete.
What happened next was, like all things, a mixed bag.
Writers, philosophers, scientists, and thinkers shared, expanded, and multiplied their knowledge, laying the foundation for The Renaissance in the 14th-17th centuries. This was good!
The scribes, however, had been displaced. By technology. By the “robots.”
Was this bad?
The scribes had a choice: lament the fact that their skill had been replaced by new tech, or adapt by moving upstream into more creative or specialized work.
Is today really any different?
Currently, about 19% of US workers are in jobs that have been classified as “highly exposed” to AI capabilities.
And—much like the scribes of yore—we have options!
We can mourn the past, or we can learn to adopt the future in a way that is authentic to our humanism and shows integrity for others.
Some might even call this survival of the fittest.
Step One: Understanding the Original AI: Authentic Integrity.
Artificial Intelligence. It seems like a concept that has exploded in the past few years, infusing armchair experts with unshakeable false confidence, regardless of any actual training or experience.
Artificial Intelligence, however, isn’t as new as one might think. In fact, my dad earned a Masters in AI in the early 1970s from MIT. The technology today vs then? Significantly advanced. The challenges and questions of morality? Largely the same.
Be it AI, the printing press, the cotton gin, or the video that killed the radio star, new technology has a tendency to stir up existential questions about our world and elicit quiet anxieties regarding our role as humans.
In this way, AI is not special–it is simply an integer in the long division of human-driven advancements.
As humans, we thrive in consistency. And when we suddenly find ourselves with the ability to print mass texts, process literal tons of cotton, or watch pictures moving in color on our screens, well, it’s a shock to our systems. When sudden new variables are randomly inserted into the equation we memorized, we desperately cling to the lifeboat of routine.
But what if we sought a different lifeboat?
Like authenticity. Like integrity.
When this rendition of “AI” is the foundation of credible, human-centered leadership, new “technology” is just a language our brains can relatively easily learn to ingest and activate.
The one constant? Human beings—choosing (or not choosing) to be authentic, to have integrity.
What does being authentic and having integrity actually mean though, why is that important?
According to Harvard Business School, employees’ perception of authenticity in leadership is the strongest indicator of job satisfaction and is known to positively impact work-related attitudes and happiness. Additionally, research by the Harvard Business Review finds that employees believe authenticity in the workplace leads to better relationships with colleagues, higher levels of trust, greater productivity, and a more positive working environment.
As a leader, this means taking responsibility for your actions, decisioning based on principle vs short-term success, and tapping into intrinsic motivation to guide daily actions–ultimately creating an engaged employee base and boosting team performance.
Authentic leadership means acting with integrity, even if no one is looking.
As it turns out, the word “integrity” comes from the same root word as “integer” or “integral,” meaning “one” or “whole.” Integrity, therefore, is what allows us to be whole, what allows us to be complete.
Personally, I prefer to be a whole that is greater than the sum of my parts, and dislike feeling incomplete.
So, instead of fighting AI, how can we integrate the power of new development into our humanity so we can truly be our best?
Integrity brings out authenticity. Authenticity brings out integrity.
Authenticity and integrity are our most precious tools when building a bridge to technological–and henceforth, human–advances. What’s more, authenticity and integrity are not only for those with padded pockets–they are available to all, rich or poor, big or small, Democrat or Republican, you get the picture.
They are the golden tools that will equip us with success.
Artificial Intelligence, on the other hand, is a language, an advancement, and a forcing function for human development. Authentic Integrity is how we learn and scale our language literacy so we can engage with others and raise humans up to do what only humans can do.
Said another way–if life is a tightrope, then authentic integrity is our balancing pole.
Step 2: Balancing Innovation with Humanity
It’s widely known that getting across any narrow walkway in life requires a keen sense of balance. And, lucky for us, we are all equipped with an internal compass of authenticity and integrity to serve as our guide. The difference between those who thrive and those who become washed up scribes comes down to whether we learn to successfully nurture our intrinsic balancing pole.
I am not denying the “threatening” side of artificial intelligence. I fully recognize that we are embarking on a shift in human development, and that the “robots” are already disrupting our job market and driving structural changes to the way organizations run.
I am, however, choosing to focus on the “opportunity” side of these technological advances.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicates that, in advanced economies, 60% of jobs could be impacted by AI. For roughly half of these, work may benefit from AI integration, leading to an increase in productivity. For the other half, AI has the ability to execute key tasks currently performed by humans.
Like with the printing press, if we have the opportunity to replace predictable, repetitive tasks with AI, what remains for humans?
What remains for humans is what has always been available to those who choose to engage: leadership, trust, culture, values.
Authentic Integrity.
Regardless of the task at hand–be it predictable, repetitive, tactical, strategic, or even prophetic, human involvement is much the same: collect the data, analyze, execute, iterate, improve, start again.
If AI can take over data collection, light analysis, and executional recommendations, that means humans can spend our time iterating, improving, and doing what we do best–restarting the cycle.
I don’t know about you, but I do know that the article you are reading right now would have taken me much longer to write ten or even five years ago. And now, more than ever before, I am able to challenge myself to think more deeply, consider longer-term solutions to growing my business, and strategize (prophesize!?) about how to elevate my work and…
BE SUCCESSFUL!
Regardless of the age, the technology, the languages, what is more authentically human than the desire for success, and the need for integrity to create the podiums on which we stand to collect our proverbial medals?
In coaching leaders, I often advise them to spend their time on work that only they can do. If a more junior employee is capable of completing a specific task, there is no need to pay a C-suite salary for the same results.
Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that humans should spend their time on work that only they can complete?
In an act of irony and resourcefulness, I asked ChatGPT what AI will never be able to replace. It praised me for my “beautiful and essential question,” and shared a detailed list, including:
Conscious awareness and self-reflection
Moral judgment and integrity
Empathy, love, and connection
Creativity rooted in lived experience
Meaning-making and purpose
Spiritual and ethical growth
So yes. The robots are coming.
But they aren’t taking our livelihood–they are taking what we choose to delegate to them.
Because, while it’s undeniable that Artificial Intelligence is reshaping business as we know it, the real leadership differentiator will always be human.
We choose how we integrate Authentic Integrity into our lives and our businesses.
The rest is nothing more than a language we can learn to speak together.
Sources
Has AI finally come for white-collar jobs? The real story behind corporate America’s mass layoffs
The Immediate Impact of the Printing Press Invention on Technological Dissemination
Which U.S. Workers Are More Exposed to AI on Their Jobs?
Integrity: Living by your values
AI Will Transform the Global Economy. Let’s Make Sure It Benefits Humanity.
