PAPER 2: PLANNING TO ADDRESS THE IMPACT

OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

(Taylor Romero)
OGL 340: Artificial Intelligence: The Human Side
Bill Erwin
2/18/23

Total Word Count: 2169 words

 PAPER 2: PLANNING TO ADDRESS THE IMPACT OF AI

Addressing the Economic/Political AI Issues

My Organization Plan

When speaking of economic issues that AI will bring with it, we must look at the lives

that will be affected, we know the lower class and middle class will be hit the hardest, these are

most of our store level employees. We must act in the interest of all who we work with and who

we serve. I feel it is our civic duty to inform all who work for us about the consequences they

could face and have a plan in place to better serve them if, and when their jobs are lost. At this

current time, we are providing education to all who work for us to better their lives and this

would be affected if hours were to be cut and jobs were lost, I am proposing we as a company

keep our focus on education for all partners and feel we could even expand this to reach those

who are going to be affected by AI. With the schooling needed to succeed in life we could

encourage employees and all who are taking advantage of these programs to investigate degrees

that will better serve this new world of AI, with this I would also encourage all to get on board

with a universal income. Basic universal incomes have been tested time and time again and have

provided great opportunities to the people who were in the trails, with this income at hand we

can ensure that no person will have their chance at an education or other opportunities stripped

away from them. We know we have power in numbers, and I do believe if we were to inform our

employees of this option, we could see a BUI bill passed in the future, especially when informing

all we can of the benefits it will provide to every American.

 Educated voters have an upper hand in matters of the law and with our company

providing tools needed for a no cost education plus the implementation of a BUI bill we could

change the lives and the power back into the hands of the people who are most effected by

government changes.
My Personal Plan

My personal plan to deal with the economic and the political issues that will come with

the advanced AI we are seeing today, closely aligns with the view of the company. With very

few people looking into what will happen to our jobs and our economic state in the United

States, we need to spread the word on what and how to make our voices heard. People, for the

most part, do not want to completely stop AI from what I have seen and learned, they only want

to make it where we can all still function and serve purpose in this world. With enough people

educated on these matters we can make changes into how this implementation will take place

and how we are personally affected.

I strongly feel as though it is unfair to have hard working people not afford to contribute

to society as they would like because of economic status, some of the most kind and caring

people I have ever met have been uneducated not by any fault of their own but just the way of

the country’s extreme capitalism. I feel we should all should be aware of how much Americans

lack in terms of education, we must understand how other countries work, in terms of providing

income for all and education and little to no cost to their citizens and want that for ourselves and

speak up about what and when it benefits the greater number of Americans.

One of the best-selling points of America is the aspect of you can be anything you wish

to be, what they do not tell you is the cost of this both physically and financially, I do feel it is in

the best interest of all to provide a basic universal income to allow us to all be who we aspire to

be without killing ourselves for minimum wage jobs that are disappearing faster than most

realize.
Addressing the Sociological AI Issues

My Organization Plan

The plan I propose for our organization is to look at the effects implementing new AI will

cause for our employees first and foremost. Here at Starbucks, we are not in the coffee business

but the people business, although creating new technology will more than likely improve our

profits, we will lose our core values of putting people first. A sense of being and a sense of

purpose are the motivating factors for many to wake up each day and get out of bed, we must

keep this in the forefront of our company. Although jobs can be replaced, we must remain

focused on why we do what we do at Starbucks each day, it is to inspire and to uplift the human

spirit, we did not set out to become a company who just looks at profit and losses, we are in the

coffee business for the connection we gain to others.

If a company was to take away someone purpose in life or even just their passion, what

responsibility do we bear in their personal well-being. My plan would be to implement

technology that keeps us profitable but not to compromise our employee’s well-being. If we

were to only have the technology that made our jobs easier yet not replaceable, we could become

a company to bridge the gap between tech and humans. If profits remain as they are what is the

purpose of having automation at our core when lives would be affected, and we would lose our

connection to human spirits. We have a greater purpose to ensure our people are taken care of

and have options in the new age of AI, although I do think new AI will come into the company, I

do not think it should “take over” the company so to speak, we must find a middle ground to stay

on to ensure everyone has a voice in the matter and every partner is heard.
My Personal Plan

Throughout my career here at Starbucks I have receive many other job

opportunities to leave and work for better pay and less stress, sounds great right? Well in all

actuality the reason I have stayed for the past eight years is simply the people I work with and

the people I work for. Genuine connections are the driving factor in what motivates me to get up

and do my job on a day-to-day basis, my plan is to educate myself and others of the changes

coming and to establish a place for myself in the new world. I know one day my career here at

Starbucks will come to an end and I need to be prepared for this by getting an education to

ensure myself a job I know I can make these connections I crave so much anywhere the AI

revolution takes me. If a choice was given to me to stay where I am in the current position I am

and take a chance my job will be safe and I will have connections with the people I work with or

start somewhere new where I know I will be safe, job wise, I know in my heart of hearts I would

stay and ride it out. I am lucky enough to be pursuing a degree of leadership where I know my

talents could be used to help others in this time of chance, and luckily that is what I will try and

do each day with the knowledge I have learned throughout this course. I myself will not stress

and worry about the changes coming but I know others around me will and have already begun, I

feel I have a responsibly to help others around me to give them a purpose and a sense of being in

their lives, like I have always tried to do at my job. We all want to feel as though we belong and

if we give each other purpose and a sense of pride we will not feel as though without work we

are worthless.
Addressing the Psychological AI Issues

My Organization Plan

Psychological issues will be the biggest area of impact I foresee in the implementation of

AI, here at Starbucks we have always done an excellent job in ensuring our partners mental well-

being is thought about and addressed. I do not think we need to cut back in this area in the

slightest, I think we should be focused on what it is we feel our partners will need in terms of

support and we need to advise all partners to seek out help when they may feel worried or

stressed. Millions of Americans are already dealing with enough psychological issues such as

depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses, we should not allow ourselves to overlook this,

and we should consider all ways in which we can help with this. Through our partnership with

Lyra, we should reach out to all partners whether they suffer from mental illness and create some

type of check ins multiple times throughout the year.

I would start with a simple survey about AI that each partner would take each quarter to

see what areas we could better serve our community. When assessing the surveys, we could have

a first-hand look into what are partners are saying and feeling in that given time allowing us to

get a jump on what we could do to and tools we could have readily available. Mental health is

such a huge issue we try and take care of here at Starbucks and I think with a few tweaks we

could have a great system in place and ready to go for the upcoming changes in our business and

in current times.
My Personal Plan

My personal plan for issues such as the psychological issue surrounding AI would be to

reach out if I am ever feeling lost or overwhelmed. I know myself and I know I tend to be

dramatic about changes in my life and life around me, I will try to remain calm and remind

myself of changes I have gone through in my life and what positive impacts have come from

such changes. I know often people are afraid to speak out and speak up about mental health

issues and I will strive to always reach out if I feel I am getting buried in negative thoughts

surrounding the changes we will likely see in the coming years. I also want to be a pillar for

those around me and have them feel safe to reach out to myself if they are feeling lost or

hopeless and I will do my best to help navigate them through these challenging time with my

knowledge I have gained thus far and the knowledge I plan to pursue on this issue of AI. To

tackle issues such as dealing with change the best thing we can do is to educate ourselves on all

possible outcomes and find a solution that best works for us.
Conclusion

In conclusion I know I do not have all the answers to the questions surrounding what we

are facing today in the implementation of AI, no one does in fact, but I do believe the simplest

solution to the challenges in to educate ourselves and others around us of all possible outcomes

and let each of us deal with these changes in our own way, but by helping each other along the

way. We must all strive to understand what is happening and how we can thrive in the new world

of AI, to do this we must put in place a plan for how far we are willing to let AI infiltrate our

day-to-day lives. There are people out there who have better and more professional answers than

I and we must talk to these people and hear what they have to say. One of the biggest people to

influence my curiosity for AI, besides Bill Erwin my professor, was Elon Musk. When seeing

what all he had to say about the dangers of AI it sparked something inside of me to want to learn

more, hence why I was so excited to participate in a class such as this. From what I have learned

thus far is that it is near impossible to stop the trajectory of AI, however we can alter our own

lives to make this transition one of ease. Educate yourself and everyone you can on what is to

come and how we can have our voices heard in what we, the American people, and people of the

world are wanting out of these changes.