Peter Cheese, CEO at the CIPD, is kicking off this year’s Watercooler Event with a panel event discussing whether AI is the “key to beating burnout and boosting productivity”, alongside Channel 4 People Director Kirstin Furber and CEO of PVL Petra Velzeboer.
It’s a topic he’s considered in depth both in his day job and research for his book The New World of Work; shaping a future that helps people, organisations and our societies to thrive.
We caught up with him ahead of the Watercooler event for a heads-up on what we can expect from this highly topical session…
Do you think AI will make us more productive, or lead us to overwork and burnout more in pursuit of productivity?
Both outcomes are possible. Most people today would say that the ways in which they’re using it, it’s helped them to be more productive, but we have seen with technology in the past that it can also create more work in different ways.
For instance, HR professionals are using it to help structure policies or employment contracts or job descriptions. But they’re also saying that job applicants are using AI to tailor and craft their personal statements and CVs making it harder for recruiters to distinguish and select.
What kind of ethical issues are you worried about with AI?
I believe we need to help teach people how to use AI responsibly, not disadvantaging people, and then how to apply critical thinking and judgement in using AI and the outputs it produces. Generative AI tools are already being used by many people, so we have to engage with it and not seek to avoid or ban it.
I’m determined that, as a profession, we lean into this agenda as we have a vital role to play in all this.
That’s why we’re working on guidance as a priority, with funding from Innovate UK, to help organisations ensure they’re using AI responsibly.
How can people apply judgment to AI?
People need to be asking themselves:
Am I just taking what AI is saying verbatim?
Am I using my critical thinking and judgment?
Are the sources of the information trustworthy?
Are there other opinions that should be considered?
It’s essential we do this as AI can, of course, be biased or even make things up, depending on the information it’s been trained on.
It’s also essential because advancements are happening at a much faster rate than predicted, and we have to manage the potential downsides and consequences to make sure that we’re all benefiting, not just a privileged few.
It’s good to see that many latest generations of generative AI tools are trying to move towards including more judgment to help in that process.
How do you advise organisations to develop a strategy on AI?
Employees need a framework, to give them guidance on how to use AI responsibly. So, they need to understand how AI works, where biases come from and how you use the tools transparently and apply judgement to them.
Then, employers need to think about the implication on jobs and redesigning jobs that are good for people as well as business outcomes, and how to upskill or reskill them appropriately.
So you think AI could help to create jobs that are good for people?
My belief is yes, absolutely we can harness the power of these technologies and create better jobs.
We can reduce our stress and produce more with less, and hopefully create more meaningful and value adding work.
But none of this is going to happen by accident. That’s why I keep coming back to the importance of organisational guidance on how we ensure that we are creating jobs around the principles of what good jobs actually are, and we keep human-centred thinking at the forefront.
That means thinking about ethics and responsibility. The phrase I’ve been using is that we need to think about a ‘just transition’.
What does a ‘just transition’ mean?
It’s a phrase that’s been used in the energy sector. In that case, it’s been about ensuring, in moving from fossil fuels to green technologies, that you’re not just putting people out of work but are able to bring people with you.
The same thinking has to apply with AI. Already, we have people saying that AI is going to ‘take jobs’, or at least significantly change jobs.
I think, yes, a lot of jobs will change but what I’m most confident of is that the individuals who use AI, and become adept with it, will get an edge.
They’ll be more productive, efficient and work smarter. The risk for those who are afraid of it, or think it’s nonsense, is that they are left behind, or displaced by individuals who are embracing it to work better.
But, ultimately, are robots actually ‘better’ than humans at our jobs?
That’s where this debate arrives at questions about the future of humanity, and what it means to be human. Especially as AI can now increasingly interpret and even ‘express’ emotion.
I’m an optimist and I agree with the sentiment that one of the wonderful things about humanity is that we’re not all the same, and that is one of our greatest strengths.
We do think differently. We do make mistakes. We learn from our mistakes, and we innovate and move forwards. We will need to work out how we work with automation and AI to enhance our work, create better jobs that use our human skills and capabilities most effectively. There are some jobs that we should be happy that robots can do – perhaps it’s those jobs that are dull, dangerous, or dirty!
What does AI mean for diversity and the DEI agenda, then?
It’s an important point.
It comes back to the core argument for inclusion which is that it allows us to access different skills, experiences and backgrounds and bring them together in collaborative ways so we all learn, and can give of our best.
As generative AI is trained on and accessing information from the internet from all sorts of sources and opinions, some of which will be biased and some complete nonsense, we have to be aware of the issues and risks. All of which comes back to what we’ve already said about critical thinking; we must apply our reasoning to it.
We must ask: should this be trusted? Are there other, different opinions or sources of information that should be expressed?
When it comes to AI, what is your gut telling you – are we heading for utopia or dystopia?
As I’ve said, I am an optimist. So, I’m going to say utopia. I think we have it within us.
I believe that collectively we can work out these challenges in ways that could be really beneficial to humanity. But you can only do that by also understanding the downsides and the risks and how you mitigate those and create a future that benefits us all.
And I find that incredibly exciting.
You can hear Peter Cheese speak at The Watercooler Event, which takes place on 7th and 8th May 2025 at ExCeL in London, which is Europe’s leading trade show, with free-to-attend content, dedicated to creating workplaces that empower both people and business to thrive. He’s speaking on Day 1, as part of the Strategies & Leadership for Engagement & Culture stream.
You can find out more and register to attend here.
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