The term “artificial intelligence”, now shortened to AI ,was coined and came into popular use 70-odd years ago, according to Google, so it is far from new.
Slightly over 18 months ago, East London's Johnny Goldberg decided that Global Business Solutions (GBS), the company he founded and still chairs, was missing business opportunities when it came to using the many solutions that artificial intelligence (AI) offered.
GBS is a leading consulting and training firm in labour law, strategic HR consulting, industrial relations, B-BBEE and employment equity, leadership and EQ, and digital intelligence.
It has delivered future-focused solutions for workforce excellence for 35+ years, and works with 76% of SA’s top employers.
“I decided the time was ripe to start pushing AI at Global. Together with John Botha, our joint CEO, we decided to spend December 2023 building and mastering an AI programme.”
"John did some amazing research during December, and it came together in January 2024. We initially outsourced the development of the bot but then brought it in-house with Courtenay Botha doing the coding courses, and started developing the first bot in the first quarter of 2024. By June we had developed 3 bots."
The task took the pair well into 2024, and six months ago they launched a bot they had trained to assist with the many facets of the growing, and costly, world of disciplinary inquiries.
The Botha & Goldberg bot has access to all the pertinent rules and regulations, as well as the evidence from all involved, and has been equipped to make decisions.
It can reach decisions regarding guilt or innocence, decide on mitigation and aggravation, as well as an appropriate sanction — and can even chair meetings.
“We have tested the bot in hundreds of cases,” said Goldberg.
"The results showed that our programme was delivering a very high level of results.
“It was at this stage that BBS needed to know if any other person or company was working on the same disciplinary programme.
"Research, including searches, both local and global, did not reveal a similar bot anywhere."
Goldberg said they developed a first in the complicated and time-consuming world of disciplinary hearings. It would have a significant impact on how hearings were structured.
“However,” he said, “we don’t think the market is ready for a programme that can replace human beings and help all parties in the same inquiry to prepare equally for a case, because all of them would have the same information.”
The bot will prepare questions and cross examination for all sides, as well historic sanctions.
The bot has had live runs and was tested by 30 companies, all showing excellent results.
Looking to the future, Goldberg said there is already voice-activated tech, and AI is simply another step.
Concerning disciplinary inquiries, he envisages a system without judges and arbitrators, which he says would be much better than subjective individuals.
“Companies spend too much time in labour courts,” he explained.
And cost is always an issue.
Goldberg predicts that the disciplinary hearing bot will cut the cost of hearings by 50% or so.
“It’s not the cost of the bot that will add to the numbers. It is the cost of training the users. I see ahead to a time when chairpersons and other role-players will step aside from hearings and give the role to bots.”
Given all the necessary information, it can act totally impartially and arrive relatively quickly at an unchallenged verdict.
“Any savings on bot-induced costcutting could be used to upskill or refocus people losing their jobs to AI.
"We have tons of money going to Setas and UIF, and we should use it -- and that is not me speaking, it came from the Attorney General,” said Goldberg.
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