As corporates accelerate AI adoption, questions of labour, value, and human worth are moving from abstract theory into public controversy.
Andile Masuku
In other news, last week's proffer that the cheaper option (to AI deployment) might be human just found an unlikely foil.
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters has apologised for describing a Hong Kong banking migration as replacing, in some cases, "lower value human capital" with the financial and investment capital being put in.
The backlash to his initial statements was immediate and global. Former Singapore President Halimah Yacob called it "disturbing" and "demeaning". LinkedIn lit up. By last Friday, Winters had apologised acknowledging that his "choice of words" had "caused upset to some colleagues". Next time, he'll no doubt stick to approved PR terminology like rightsizing, reskilling, redeployment, transition packages, clear notice, etc.
