What is human-centric AI, and why will it be a top priority for global business leaders?

In the rush to use fancy AI tools, many companies forget about the people who actually use them. For AI to work well, employees need to understand and use it first. This is what we mean by "human-centric AI"—seeing AI as a helper, not a replacement. To understand more about human-centric AI, Asana’s Work Innovation Lab asked over 4,500 people in the US and UK about how companies are using AI.

The results show that different levels of the company use AI differently. This is why we need a human-centric approach. Human-centric AI is simple: technology should help, not replace, what people can do. When companies replace people with AI, they don't get good results. But when people work with AI, good things happen. It helps with decision-making, makes interactions better, and gets better results.

As more companies use AI, taking a human-centric approach will be very important. This approach makes a balance. The more people use AI, the better the results will be. And with better results, more people will trust and use AI.

Our research shows that executives are using AI the most, with 52% using it every week. This means leaders know how AI can help them make decisions and be more creative. But other levels in the company are not using AI as much. If executives talk about AI as a partner, not a replacement for creativity, more employees will like using AI. People are already finding good ways to use AI. According to our research:

• 30% use AI for looking at data and making decisions.

• 25% use AI to do administrative tasks, so they have more time for important work.

Using AI this way is important for it to become a normal part of how companies work. By working together with people and AI, we can get better results. This makes people trust and use AI more at work.

Human-centric AI also helps make decisions better, makes customers happier, and makes work more efficient. For example:

• 52% of workers feel good about using AI, which helps them make better decisions.

• 36% of workers use AI every week, which can make talking to customers better. AI can help with routine questions, so people can focus on harder, more personal questions. This makes customers happy.

• 29% of workers worry AI might take their job. This means we need to use AI for things it's good at, like boring tasks, so people can do more interesting things. This makes work more efficient and people like their jobs more.

Human-centric AI is about people and AI working together for good things. It also means using AI in fair and open ways. Making sure people are important when we use AI is the way to go forward. As we move into the future with technology, using AI in ways that respect and understand people will make our work more meaningful and innovative.