In 2050, will your CEO be an artificial intelligence robot?

• In September 2022, a Chinese company appointed a humanoid robot guided by artificial intelligence as its head, a world first.

• A trend set to develop?

  To find out, we went to 2050 where the case will no longer be an exception.

• Good news for some employees, dreaming of a fairer and more efficient world, but one more step from dehumanization in the workplace.

It is October 5, 2050. Like anyone living their first day in their new company,

, Fabien Miran is a little stressed.

Beyond the classic apprehension of knowing if he will get along well with his colleagues and perform well in his new job, another point bothers him: the CEO of his new company is not a human being, but a robot guided by an artificial intelligence (AI), Mr. Bollorinator.

This is far from being a novelty: in September 2022, the Chinese company NetDragon Websoft, the country's leader in video games and online education services, announced the appointment of a robot equipped with artificial intelligence, appointed Ms. Tang Yu as CEO.

At the time, it was a world first.

Since then, artificial CEOs have conquered many management committees, to the point that Fabien Miran's son has already had an artificial intelligence as boss during his internship.

"It went pretty well," he told his father to try to reassure him.

And after all, this is only the meaning of the story, confirmed in 2022 * Florence Benichoux, doctor and specialist in the quality of life at work, author of

(Eyrolles Edition, 2014): “There is an increasing robotization of the world of work, and sectors that we thought were untouchable end up giving in to it.

It won't hurt some human bosses, a little too full of themselves, to see that they themselves are replaceable.

»

A boss 24 hours a day, 365 days a year

They can be reassured, machines are not in the majority in the management of companies and are not likely to become so.

“Artificial intelligences are still very far from equaling the capacities of a real brain, particularly in terms of improvisation and emotions.

The world, in 2050 or even after, will always need big, very human bosses”, dried up at the time Thomas Coutrot *, associate researcher at the Institute for Economic and Social Research and co-author of

(2022, Edition Le Seuil).

It is therefore impossible, even in 2050, to see AI leading all sectors.

"They only work for certain companies and for very specific tasks: the management of leave, schedules, replacements, salary distribution", added Maithe Quintana, creator and president of the National Center for Pedagogical Innovation (CNIP) in 2022*.

Despite their minority side and his apprehension, Fabien Miran believes that the arrival of robots at the head of the directions is a chance.

We are talking about an important position here.

This robot does not require a salary and works 24/7. labor superior at the time*.

A salute for Fabien: “It saves a lot of money for companies, and it allows you to recruit more simple employees than me”.

His wife, who is unionized, complains that the artificial bosses dismiss without the slightest emotion.

“Well, from my youth, there were companies that fired thousands of employees without a tear from the boss.

It does not change much, ”qualifies the fifty-year-old.

The end of discrimination?

From his first day, Fabien still notices serious differences: Mr. Bollorinator, welcomes him not by the traditional handshake a bit warm, but with a bot message listing the precise orders to be carried out during the month, his rights in holidays and its possibility of changing hours.

“It's a bit impersonal, confirms Aziz, his colleague at work.

But we are there among ordinary people to stick together.

Human bosses don't necessarily have much more heart, ”he smiles.

For this young thirty-year-old, the breakthrough of artificial intelligence comes with a strong promise: the end of discrimination at work.

“A machine doesn't matter if my first name is typed, or if our colleague has a disability.

It coldly analyzes a CV, productivity figures and basta.

I prefer the impersonal to bastards, ”says the employee.

A vision that is undoubtedly a little idealized, according to Thomas Coutrot: “In theory, artificial intelligence eliminates discrimination, conscious or unconscious.

But practice has shown that it is not so simple.

In particular because an artificial intelligence will compare the profiles that arrive with the CVs of those who have already held the position, or had a promotion for example, thus reproducing the pre-existing biases.

In 2016, Microsoft launched Tay, a chatbot meant to chat with teens on social media.

An experience that lasted only eight hours and 96,000 tweets, before the bot was deactivated for having made several racist remarks, and in particular for denying the Holocaust.

Created by humans, interfering with humans, artificial intelligences quickly adopt some of our faults.

Repeat yes, adapt no

The worst in man, without necessarily the best?

Fabien Miran's son wanted to be reassuring for his old father and he carefully concealed that his internship company, a pokebowl specialist, has closed.

The box failed to adapt to the quinoa crisis in 2047 following the Mexican-Bolivian conflict and filed for bankruptcy.

Having a boss who works 24 hours a day is good, but that's not everything: "Artificial intelligence can be more efficient than a human in situations they already know and for which they are programmed, but not for the unexpected or dealing with totally unfamiliar situations.

We were very happy in 2020 with the health crisis to have human bosses, a machine would have been lost, ”confirms Maithe Quintana.

A lack of adaptation that also applies in everyday life.

Do artificial intelligences really know how to manage the very specific situations that certain employees experience, such as a miscarriage, the suicide of a loved one, but also an argument between colleagues or a love affair in the office, wonders the expert .

"You just have to hope that things go as they should," Aziz philosophizes.

has experienced record results since the takeover of artificial intelligence: “No human would do better than Bollorinator.

He has turned the company around, always calculates the best things to do, and works 24 hours a day.

We couldn't have a better boss.

And yes, even in 2050, there are still beans.

Bring back the human

A dithyrambic speech to which Fabien finds it difficult to adhere, quite frustrated at not having met a real person when presenting himself to his CEO.

Undoubtedly the biggest limit for Florence Benichoux: “The world of work also needs the human, relational, heart, tactile”.

Already, at the beginning of the century, "there was a loss of humanity in companies, which led to disenchantment at work", continues the expert.

Same fear for Bernard Vivier: “A box isn't just about production, it's also about meaning and social ties.

And man will always be better at that than a machine.

»

The greatest fear for Florence Benichoux is to see a world of work at two speeds, where having a human boss would have become a luxury: "As soon as we exceed the figures, we can see that artificial intelligence is not the weight .

And again, even in production, employees will devote themselves much more to a human enterprise.

Having heart, emotion, empathy, humanity within your management must remain a prerequisite in the world of work, not a rare commodity.

»

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*You will understand, these interviews and these descriptions were made in 2022

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