Denver: Artificial intelligence applications across the business world are controversial. It is in the safety world. Some safety experts will write, lecture or tell you one way or another that AI will enhance safety, make it better. Others are on the fence, unsure of future developments. And there are those who say AI will no doubt eliminate some safety positions, the number unknown, just as it will in untold numbers of occupations. You will hear few people say, though, that safety will be more of the same old same old.

In an exclusive interview with ISHN, ASSP Chief Executive Officer Jennifer McNelly made these points:

• There are a lot of ifs with AI right now, but AI will definitely improve the role of the safety professional, not eliminate it.
• The safety professional’s role involves much day-to-day worker contact, the human touch. Safety is a people business. Always has been, always will be. Pros have the need to interpret, contextualize, empathize, question data findings, leverage positive relationships at all levels of the workplace. AI can’t do this.
• AI produces a treasure trove of data. AI can analyze and predict. Using the data, though, requires knowing context and asking the right questions. Safety pros are questioners.
• Most professionals today on the AI maturity curve are in the learning and exploring stage. There are, and will be, as in all industries and professions, leaders, laggards and those in the middle.
• ASSP leadership, both association pros and members, are closely studying the “what ifs?” Just like individual professionals, there is the need to develop foresight about AI, where it is heading, the developments, the disruptions that are certain. Tracking trends in the workplace and with the workforce, technological, societal, generational, cultural and more is essential.

One more thought: the role of AI in life, far beyond workplace safety, will eventually be so influential that society will need to reach a consensus, a type of social governance and agreement, about the use and ethics of AI. As with the other predictions regarding AI, you might agree, disagree or be non-committal. But consider the alternative…