The Slippery Slope to Dehumanization!

This story is from not too long ago - July 2024!

I covered it in my article - “The Lattice Fiasco”

We thought we humans won!

Lattice, a $3 billion software unicorn, stirred significant backlash after announcing it onboarded AI bots officially just as they would an employee - with onboarding, performance metrics, and reporting to managers—on their organizational chart.

The backlash was swift and unforgiving.

The move raised alarms about the future of work, ethics, and how we perceive human value in the face of rapidly advancing AI systems.

Lattice eventually walked back their decision, publicly retracting their AI-inclusive org chart.

But was this a victory for human workers, or merely a PR maneuver?

AI Employees: A Trend Accelerating Before Our Eyes

Take a look at the landscape today. The term AI employee is no longer a niche concept. Companies are now proudly announcing their AI-driven virtual workers:

This shift is not theoretical—it’s happening.

I believe this is only the beginning.

What once seemed a dystopian concept—robots and AI agents coexisting alongside humans as peers in the workforce—is now an emerging reality.

A quick glance at Google Trends shows a steady rise in searches for “AI employee.” Interest has skyrocketed in the past year, and there is no sign of slowing down.

Are We Setting Up AI and Ourselves to Fail?

From an operational standpoint, companies are excited about the efficiencies that AI brings. Virtual workers can outperform humans in speed, data processing, and consistency. But treating AI as “employees” rather than tools introduces more dilemmas than solutions.

• Who is responsible for an AI agent’s failure?

• How do you measure its performance in human-centric terms?

• What are the long-term cultural implications of treating software as peers?

Yuval Noah Harari’s Warning: AI should be called as “Alien” Intelligence

A very close friend of mine shared this YouTube video with me and she told me - “Watch this when you get a chance and we will talk”

This tells me that people are concerned!

In this video, Yuval Noah Harari raised pressing ethical questions about the unchecked growth of AI. Harari points out that AI doesn’t just outperform humans in tasks; it fundamentally changes the nature of human roles in society. When companies integrate AI agents as “employees,” they blur the line between software and humans, risking a dehumanization of work itself.

Harari warns us about a world where humans become irrelevant to economic systems. “When you lose your economic value, you also lose political power,” he says. AI integration—if mismanaged—threatens to deepen inequality, displace workers, and weaken our social fabric.

A Middle Ground: Treat AI as Tools, Not Co-workers

So how should we respond? I believe there is a balanced path forward.

• AI agents should remain part of IT asset management systems, not human org charts. Placing AI bots alongside humans undermines the unique contributions and irreplaceable creativity of people.

• Collaboration over competition. AI should be positioned as a tool that augments human potential, not one that replaces it. The framing matters.

• Transparency and boundaries. Companies must be clear about what AI systems can and cannot do. Assigning them human-like “employee” status muddies these boundaries and erodes trust.

As leaders, our challenge is to shape a workplace where AI empowers us, not diminishes us. If we lose sight of this, we risk creating environments where humans feel undervalued and disposable.

The Final Word: AI Isn’t the Enemy, But the Narrative Matters

I’m pro-AI. I believe in its transformative power to solve problems, improve productivity, and unlock human potential. But the narrative we create around AI matters just as much as its capabilities. Lattice may have walked back its decision, but the discussions it sparked are invaluable. We must ask ourselves:

• Are we using AI to make work more HUMAN, or less?

• Who benefits from framing AI as “employees” rather than tools?

• How do we ensure that AI works for us, not instead of us?

This is a pivotal moment. Companies must navigate this dilemma carefully, with ethics at the forefront and people at the center. AI is a tool—an extraordinary one—but it is up to us to decide how it integrates into our world.

In the end, the goal should not be to replace human workers but to enhance their capabilities. As Harari warns, we must remain vigilant about how these technologies are adopted and who they ultimately serve. The future of work is being written—let’s make sure it’s one we want to live in.