Making AI an ally in a fast changing workplace

Making AI an ally in a fast changing workplace

Making AI an ally in a fast changing workplace
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For decades, software was centered around data. Initially, this meant digitizing mountains of paper records, storing them in databases, and retrieving them more efficiently. Tasks that once required sifting through file cabinets, mainframes, or early enterprise systems were then streamlined by technology.

Still, the bulk of real work — whether in a travel agency, a human resources department, or a hospital — continued to be handled by humans. These early digital tools functioned as advanced filing cabinets, saving space and time, but still relied on people to interpret and act on the data they contained.

Then came the cloud era. Large servers maintained offsite replaced the need for clunky hardware in office basements, making information more accessible and less expensive to manage. Yet, this convenience did not dramatically reduce the need for human labor. Even with cloud-based software, professionals continued to handle everything from customer support queries to accounts receivable.

The digital platforms served mainly as centralized repositories; employees were still opening emails, typing responses, making phone calls, and moving information from one system to another. In short, software stored data more efficiently, but it did not fundamentally alter the fact that people were doing the heavy lifting of day-to-day operations.

That is changing. The wave we are witnessing now goes beyond merely adding features or improving convenience. Artificial intelligence is evolving from a tool that primarily organizes and processes data into one that performs tasks traditionally handled by people.

Just a few years ago, the idea of an AI system managing legal paperwork, responding to support emails, tracking payment schedules, or scheduling appointments in multiple languages might have sounded far-fetched. Yet, these capabilities already exist in prototype or limited-release forms, and many organizations find them particularly appealing because AI effectively fills labor gaps.

The difference this time is both economic and practical on a large scale. In the past, software accounted for only a small percentage of most companies’ budgets — a helpful tool to boost employee productivity. Meanwhile, labor costs, benefits, and training far outweighed expenses for databases or office software. When an organization grew, it needed to hire more staff to handle the increased workload.

AI is changing the equation. Instead of only one person answering a number of calls or emails daily, AI can operate around the clock at a fraction of the cost. This shift makes previously unthinkable applications of software not only possible but highly appealing from a business perspective.

This is especially evident in customer support and communication roles. Early chatbots were often clumsy and had frustrating interfaces, only handling the simplest queries. In contrast, new-generation models — trained on massive datasets — can now generate coherent, context-aware responses in real-time.

Instead of functioning as bare-bones frequently-asked-questions systems, these AI agents can learn the nuances of a company’s product line, reference past customer interactions, and adapt their tone to suit different audiences. In many cases, they handle the bulk of mundane interactions independently. Humans now step in only for exceptions or complex issues, effectively becoming “managers” of AI rather than the frontline agents.

The real opportunity lies in combining AI’s labor capabilities with human empathy and insight.

Mohammed A. Al-Qarni

This shift from data to labor extends well beyond customer service. In healthcare, AI can process standard patient forms, allowing nurses and administrative staff to focus more on bedside care. In finance, AI can chase overdue invoices, notify individuals who fall behind on payments, and even negotiate payment plans. In compliance, AI-driven systems can flag suspicious transactions and prepare preliminary reports for human review. In countless other fields, such as insurance underwriting, market research, and creative brainstorming, AI is taking on core responsibilities that were once handled by entire teams.

Naturally, this raises significant questions about employment and skills. If software replaces much of operational work, what happens to those roles?

The history of technological change shows that while some jobs are lost, new opportunities often emerge in areas where technology falls short. When software digitized record-keeping, it didn’t eliminate HR departments; instead, it made them leaner and shifted staff responsibilities from managing paper forms to more strategic, human-centered tasks.

AI promises a similar reallocation. Tasks requiring complex problem-solving, genuine empathy, relationship-building, or physical presence and advanced judgment will remain within human expertise. However, it would be naive to assume this transition will be painless or that new roles will naturally appear for everyone. Success will require active planning, reskilling, and a willingness to redefine roles within organizations.

What sets this wave apart — and makes it potentially more disruptive — is the sheer depth and range of tasks AI can now perform. It is no longer confined to predictable, mechanical processes.

Modern AI systems can analyze nuanced language, generate personalized content, and adapt to new information in real time. This makes them more than just a time-saving device; they become the backbone of operations where speed, consistency, and scale are paramount. Such capability compels organizations to weigh whether to pay people for tasks that AI can handle faster and at lower cost.

At the same time, it is crucial to remember that humans possess inventive, relational, and interpretive qualities that AI cannot replicate. No model — however advanced — can fully capture the warmth of genuine human interaction or the creativity born from lived experience and social context. The real opportunity lies in combining AI’s labor capabilities with human empathy and insight. Freed from repetitive duties, employees can dedicate more energy to strategic thinking, customer relationships, and, ultimately, innovation.

Software was once focused solely on managing data, not on performing the labor behind it. AI has changed that. Tasks once handled by staff, from administrative duties to client follow-ups, can now be managed by intelligent systems at scale. Companies that embrace this shift thoughtfully and responsibly are likely to outpace those that hold onto legacy models. This is not just another upgrade or a feature set; this is a fundamental rethinking of how work itself is accomplished.

Embracing this transition requires building the right frameworks, safeguards, and strategies to make AI an ally, not a threat — transforming what was once a tool for data into a powerful partner in getting things done.

Mohammed A. Al-Qarni is an academic and consultant on AI for business.
 

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view

Laylat Al-Qadr: Worshippers pack Holy Mosques for 27th night of Ramadan

Laylat Al-Qadr: Worshippers pack Holy Mosques for 27th night of Ramadan
Updated 11 min 50 sec ago
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Laylat Al-Qadr: Worshippers pack Holy Mosques for 27th night of Ramadan

Laylat Al-Qadr: Worshippers pack Holy Mosques for 27th night of Ramadan
  • Makkah’s Grand Mosque received over 4 million and 200 thousand worshippers on Wednesday night

RIYADH: Millions of Muslims from around the world flocked to the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah for the 27th night of Ramadan, where they performed Taraweeh and Tahajjud prayers.

In a new record, the Grand Mosque received over 4 million and 200 thousand worshippers on Wednesday night, according to Al-Ekhbariya.

Worshippers were seeking Laylat Al-Qadr (The Night of Power), one of the most important nights in Islam and is, as stated in the Qur’an, better than a thousand months.

Laylat Al-Qadr falls within the final 10 days of Ramadan but its exact date remains unknown, however it’s widely regarded as falling on the 27th of Ramadan. Mislims are also encouraged to seek this night during the odd-numbered nights of the last 10 days.

Operational plans on Wednesday included preparing the Mataf (Area of Circumambulation) to accommodate 107,000 pilgrim per hour, ensuring a smooth movement inside the Grand Mosque.

Authorities have also equipped 428 escalators and 28 elevators and modern audio systems including 1,300 speakers, in addition to providing power sources with a capacity of up to 90,000 tons to cool the Grand Mosque.

The Makkah region Health Affairs Department has boosted its services through medical centers located within the Grand Mosque and its courtyards to provide medical services to pilgrims. 


Canadian Prime Minister Carney calls Trump’s auto tariffs a ‘direct attack’ on his country

Canadian Prime Minister Carney calls Trump’s auto tariffs a ‘direct attack’ on his country
Updated 15 min 3 sec ago
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Canadian Prime Minister Carney calls Trump’s auto tariffs a ‘direct attack’ on his country

Canadian Prime Minister Carney calls Trump’s auto tariffs a ‘direct attack’ on his country
  • Autos are Canada’s second largest export, and Carney noted it employs 125,000 Canadians directly and almost another 500,000 in related industries
  • The tax hike on auto imports starting in April means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales

TORONTO: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that US President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs are a “direct attack” on his country and that the trade war is hurting Americans, noting that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low.
Trump said earlier Wednesday that he was placing 25 percent tariffs on auto imports and, to underscore his intention, he stated “This is permanent.”
“This is a very direct attack,” Carney responded. “We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country.”
Carney said he needs to see the details of Trump’s executive order before taking retaliatory measures. He called it unjustified and said he will leave the election campaign to go to Ottawa on Thursday to chair his special Cabinet committee on US relations.
Carney earlier announced a CA$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” that will protect Canadian auto jobs affected by Trump’s tariffs.
Autos are Canada’s second largest export, and Carney noted it employs 125,000 Canadians directly and almost another 500,000 in related industries.
“Canada will be there for auto workers,” he said.
Trump previously granted a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for US automakers.
The president has plunged the US into a global trade war — all while on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty.
The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its USconsumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021.
“His trade war is hurting American consumers and workers and it will hurt more. I see that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low,” Carney said earlier while campaigning in Windsor, Ontario ahead of Canada’s April 28 election.
The tax hike on auto imports starting in April means automakers could face higher costs and lower sales.
Trump previously 25 percent tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.
“He wants to break us so America can own us,” Carney said. “And it will never ever happen because we just don’t look out for ourselves we look out for each other.”
Carney, former two-time central banker, made the earlier comments while campaigning against the backdrop of the Ambassador Bridge, which is considered the busiest US-Canadian border crossing, carrying 25 percent of all trade between the two countries. It plays an especially important role in auto manufacturing.
Carney said the bridge carries $140 billion Canadian dollars ($98 billion) in goods every year and CA$400 million ($281 million) per day.
“Now those numbers and the jobs and the paychecks that depend on that are in question,” Carney said. “The relationship between Canada and the United States has changed. We did not change it.”
In the auto sector, parts can go back and forth across the Canada-US border several times before being fully assembled in Ontario or Michigan.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, whose province has the bulk of Canada’s auto industry, Ford said auto plants on both sides the border will shut simultaneously if the tariffs go ahead.
“President is calling it Liberation Day. I call it Termination Day for American workers. I know President Trump likes tell people ‘Your fired!” I didn’t think he meant US auto workers when he said it,” Ford said.
Trump has declared a trade war on his northern neighbor and continues to call for Canada to become the 51st state, a position that has infuriated Canadians.
Canadians booed Trump repeatedly at a Carney election rally in Kitchener, Ontario.
The new prime minister, sworn in March 14, still hasn’t had a phone call with Trump. It is unusual for a US president and Canadian prime minister to go so long without talking after a new leader takes office.
“It would be appropriate that the president and I speak given the action that he has taken. I’m sure that will happen soon,” Carney said.
Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said the tariffs will damage American auto workers just as they will damage Canadian auto workers.
“The message to President Trump should be to knock it off,” Poilievre said. “He’s changed his mind before. He’s done this twice, puts them on, takes them off. We can suspect that may well happen again.”


Hamas spokesperson Qanoua killed in Israeli airstrike, Al-Aqsa TV reports

Hamas spokesperson Qanoua killed in Israeli airstrike, Al-Aqsa TV reports
Updated 18 min 31 sec ago
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Hamas spokesperson Qanoua killed in Israeli airstrike, Al-Aqsa TV reports

Hamas spokesperson Qanoua killed in Israeli airstrike, Al-Aqsa TV reports
  • Al-Qanoua was killed when his tent was targeted in Jabalia in northern Gaza
  • Earlier this week, Israel killed senior leaders Ismail Barhoum and Salah Al-Bardaweel

CAIRO: Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said early on Thursday, the latest group figure to be killed since Israel resumed its operations in the enclave.
Al-Qanoua was killed when his tent was targeted in Jabalia, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television said. The same strike wounded several people, while separate attacks killed at least six in Gaza City and one in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, medical sources said.
Earlier this week, Israel killed Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’ political office, and Salah Al-Bardaweel, another senior leader.
Both Bardaweel and Barhoum were members of the 20-member Hamas decision-making body, the political office, 11 of whom have been killed since the start of the war in late 2023, according to Hamas sources.
Last week, Israel ended a two-month-old ceasefire by resuming bombing and ground operations, increasing pressure on Hamas to free the remaining hostages in its captivity.
At least 830 people, over half of them children and women, have been killed since Israel resumed major military strikes in Gaza on March 18, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel and Hamas accused each other of breaching the truce. It had broadly held since January and offered respite from war for the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble.
Hamas, which still holds 59 of the 250 or so hostages Israel says the group seized in its October 7, 2023 attack, accused Israel of jeopardizing efforts by mediators to negotiate a permanent deal to end the fighting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered strikes because Hamas had rejected proposals to secure a ceasefire extension. He repeated threats on Wednesday to seize territory in Gaza if Hamas failed to release the remaining hostages it still holds.


Child slips through fencing at White House and is intercepted by Secret Service

Child slips through fencing at White House and is intercepted by Secret Service
Updated 53 min 4 sec ago
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Child slips through fencing at White House and is intercepted by Secret Service

Child slips through fencing at White House and is intercepted by Secret Service
  • Similar intrusions have happened at th White House before, including in April 2023 when a toddler squeezed through the metal fencing

WASHINGTON: A child slipped through fencing outside the White House on Wednesday and was intercepted by Secret Service officers.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the young trespasser squeezed through the fence on the North Lawn around 6:30 p.m., about an hour after President Donald Trump announced planned auto tariffs from the Oval Office.
“Officers quickly reunited the child with their parents without incident,” Guglielmi said in a social media post.

A Secret Service officer carries a child that slipped through the fence of the White House in Washington, D.C.,on  March 26, 2025. (REUTERS)

Video posted on social media shows an armed officer carrying a young child wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt across the lawn before handing off the child to another officer.
Such intrusions have happened before. In April 2023, a toddler squeezed through the metal fencing, also on the North Lawn, and was later reunited with his parents, who were briefly questioned.


It was bacteria — not a miracle — on a communion wafer in US church

It was bacteria — not a miracle — on a communion wafer in US church
Updated 27 March 2025
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It was bacteria — not a miracle — on a communion wafer in US church

It was bacteria — not a miracle — on a communion wafer in US church
  • The host, or bread, with red marks had fallen out of a Mass kit at St. Anthony Church in Morris, Indiana
  • A biochemical analysis revealed only “fungus and three different species of bacteria, all of which are commonly found on human hands”

MORRIS, Indiana: A laboratory analysis turned up nothing miraculous about red marks found on a Communion wafer at a Catholic church in Indiana.
The discovery at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Morris was unusual enough for a formal inspection, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis said.
But a biochemical analysis revealed only “fungus and three different species of bacteria, all of which are commonly found on human hands,” the archdiocese said Monday, adding that no blood was found.

Samples of the Catholic sacramental bread. (Wikimedia Commons: Patnac)

The Catholic faith teaches that wine and a bread wafer signify the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Typically, they’re consecrated by a priest at Mass.
The host, or bread, with red marks had fallen out of a Mass kit at St. Anthony Church.
“Throughout the history of the Catholic Church, there have been well-documented miracles and apparitions, and each has been thoroughly and carefully reviewed,” the archdiocese said.
Before the analysis, some members of St. Anthony Church were excited about what might be found.
“We have such a little town. You can drive through and blink and you’re through it,” Shari Strassell, a church member, told WKRC-TV. “It means the world, it does, and I think there is something special about our church up here.”