Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, professor of organizational psychology at University College London and CEO of Hogan Assessment Systems, recently focused on this interesting topic in an interesting article on the Harvard Business Review
website.
How does a curious person differ from a curious algorithm?
Accrding to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, the curiosity of artificial and human intelligence is in direct opposition. While machines are curious because someone programmed them to be (they were given a specific task whose fulfillment is a priority for them), human curiosity does not arise on command. It occurs randomly, flows freely and is unpredictable.
Today computers can simulate complete processes previously done by people - from thought, through testing to validation. Suggestions for solutions then outweigh the human potential. Examples include car design and crash tests.
But what if AI could increase the quality of recruitment?
Companies can use machine learning on recordings of job interviews. After a few seconds, they can watch comparisons of candidates based on their speaking and behavior. They will learn to what extent the candidates are attentive, friendly, or how they perceive their achievements.
The problem is, however, that human recruiters often lack the curiosity to ask really important questions. They can be curious about completely random things or the wrong things. Then they focus on other factors and decide differently. Algorithms can't simulate this.
Computers outperform people in curiosity focused on a particular task, so they also manage to perform clearly defined tasks faster and better. However, they can't take experiences from other tasks into consideration. The algorithm that designs cars can't hire employees or play chess.
In the coming years, machines will grow to handle more and more human activities. The real curiosity that can happen at random and that makes us start focusing on something with interest and passion is, however, still only a human skill.
-kk-