Automating ethically
AI promises to save us time and money. We can do more, create more, go faster, skip steps, fast track, cut costs… etc. etc.
You saved time and money! What now?
I think it’s great when someone tells me they created a website, a business plan, or an app, in record time. We have these powerful tools that can help us accomplish really cool things without having to spend weeks, months, years on learning, honing skill, and creating. It can make people’s lives easier and open doors they were not able to open before. It can help businesses find new ways to do more with less. There are a lot of upsides.
There is an issue however. Saving time and money can come at a cost.
In a lot of cases little thought has been put into the “what now?” After something is automated, what is the outcome, and how do you know if it is successful? You can do something faster and cheaper, but is that the measure of success? What that looks like entirely depends on whether or not the automation was implemented with some kind of intention. If it isn’t there can be negative impacts on the humans involved, and the changes could have serious implications.
The dangers of not planning ahead
As with all change management, defining the goal should come before the process. Successful leaders don’t jump into things just because. They take the time to define where they want to go, and only then do they map out how to get there.
What I am seeing when it comes to AI and automation is the opposite. The marketing hype that promises those resource savings combined with a fear of missing out has led many leaders to go all in on automation without thinking through the outcomes. The assumption is that by slapping in some AI here and there will simply make things faster and more efficient. Nothing else will change.
The problem is that change has a ripple effect. Without thinking through what will happen when a change is made, the negative effects cannot be controlled for. Take the example of automated loan approvals. The goal was to saved time for the borrower, and saved costs for the lender. A study published in 2024 found that by automating loan approvals without thinking through all of the potential outcomes (besides approval/denial faster), the system became biased against people of color, who were being denied at higher rates than white borrowers. In the human services sector, the automation of unemployment review in Michigan led to 40,000 people being flagged for fraud with a 93% error rate. In both cases, taking time to determine the ideal outcome (delivering services with fairness and accuracy) rather than simply focusing on time saved, could have prevented significant negative impacts.
To put it succinctly, automation without intention is devoid of ethics, and has the potential to harm more than it helps. If it does help, that outcome is a product of luck, not good process.
How to plan
Sure, most small businesses are automating their sales pipeline or emails, not loans or public benefits, but they can still learn from these mistakes to avoid their own. Here are some tips on how to plan for automation intentionally, with a clear outcome in mind, so that goals can be met and resources can be saved.
Identify a task or process that is repetitive, regular, and manual.
Define what success looks like when that process is completed correctly.
Starting at the desired outcome, work backwards to map out the full process. What has to happen to get to the most successful end?
For each step, ask, “can this be automated without breaking the customer experience, or negatively impacting my team?”
Make a list of all of the risks of automation, and what can be done to mitigate them.
If the answer is yes, start mapping that step to tools used to automate.
Be transparent with everyone involved to get feedback before implementation.
Test. Test again. Test until it’s working well and everyone involved feels good about the process.
Track outcomes. Are they as successful as hoped? What has changed? Is it for the better?
Are there any unintended consequences? Are they worth the gain?
The mark of a successful implementation is to meet your goals and find true success. The byproduct of this is time and/or cost savings. It’s a positive desired outcome, but not the end goal itself. Start at the end, automate with intention, and it’s a win-win across the board.
Head to the resources page to download the Ethical Automation checklist.
