Would you want an AI robot as your CEO? Would that be an amusing experience or would it feel normal? Well, the Chinese are one step ahead. The company Netdragon has actually appointed an AI-powered robot to be the rotating Chief executive officer in one of its subsidiaries, Fujian Netdragon Websoft.
Metaverse is now well known as the next era of the internet. It boasts of a 3D virtual world that people access through augmented reality and also virtual reality (AR and VR). They use headsets to do business, hang out with friends and even play games with their virtual avatar holograms.
NetDragons vice chairman talked about their decision of getting an AI robot CEO in an interview in September. He explained that the metaverse is here to stay for how they’re seeing the future of the internet, and so it is only natural that they start by appointing the AI robot as a plan for showing that they’re invested in the whole idea.
Tang Yu is the name of the AI CEO. The vice chairman also explained that the appointment of Tang Yu is for pioneering the usage of AI for leapfrogging operational efficiency and also the transformation of corporate management. He continued to say that this move represented a huge milestone towards being what he called a metaverse organization.
What is Tang Yu’s role in the company?
This robot CEO has some serious work cut out for it. It will have to
- Ensure that NetDragons is a fair and efficient workplace for every worker available.
- Enhancing the quality of work tasks
- Tang Yu will be responsible for the improvement of execution speed
- Streamlining process flow
- The AI robot CEO will be responsible for operating a real-time data hub and analytical tool that will be used to support daily decision-making processes and
- Tang Yu will be responsible for enabling a risk management system that is effective for the company.
By getting Tang Yu in this position of power, those that were responsible for the above-mentioned functions will be moved to other departments of the company and will be expected to help with the expansion of the company in their new fields.
However, it does not explain if the robot will be monitored and supervised by a human being or if it will be needed to make decisions independently as acting CEO of the subsidiary.
This is a clear indication of what will truly happen when companies finally embrace and embark on the journey of using the metaverse for work.
What could work look like in the metaverse?
Thanks to motion sensors and augmented reality, in the metaverse workplace you can be anywhere and at work at the very same time. The sensors and augmented reality aid your holograms to act as you do. Additionally, the workplace can be customized to anything you want it to look like. That means there will be minimal need for physical equipment, office space, and face-to-face meetings.
It will make things very easy as all employees can be in separate locations, far from each other as possible but still be able to converse and make decisions as if they were physically in the same room. If you are wondering how they would write down brainstormed ideas, easy. There is a feature on the metaverse called digital interactive whiteboard.
What are the benefits of working in the metaverse?
In the metaverse, you will not have transportation costs. No issues as traffic or that you were a bit late leaving home.
There will also be no need for physical office spaces. As of now we’re worried about population and building new high rises for office spaces and whatnot. But using metaverse will remove all these issues.
What are the concerns rising out of working in the metaverse?
- Health risks
There are concerns that there will be a significant amount of health risks with the introduction of health risks.
Firstly, the metaverse will bring about change in social engagements. Human beings are social creatures. Studies have indicated that we need to have social meetings with others and that human social behavior is important for our survival. So in the metaverse, there will be little direct contact, eliminating social engagements which will eventually lead to psychiatric disorders because our bodies will deem this a disruption in our normal social behavior.
Spending ungodly amounts of time online bring about the promotion of junk foods and the ingestion of tobacco and alcohol.
As well, there are existing studies that have shown that spending so much time on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, or YouTube brings about anxiety, depression, loneliness, and addictive behaviors. As well, since a person will be far from human contact, this will be causing issues of isolation.
High usage of Virtual reality has also been known to bring about a disorder called depersonalization- derealisation disorder, which means there’s an increase in dissociative feelings in humans, according to a 2018 study.
One characteristic of this disorder is disconnected from our thoughts and body, and this can lead to severe panic and anxiety attacks.
Amidst all these concerns, NetDragon is still making its way forward since it aims to progress to a metaverse-based community, and it seems that Tang Yu is the beginning of the change for them.
Tang Yu, created as a female and therefore addressed as such, is said to be the company’s representation in embracing AI to transform business operations. Miss Tang Yu will be overseeing the above-mentioned operations, which are valued at nearly $10 billion.
She is an exact representation of what Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, said a while back. About robots doing what we humans are incapable of, and then cooperating and partnering with human beings instead of being our enemies.
So the future is now, and we ask again. Would you want an AI robot CEO? What would it be like? Normal or amusing?
