At some point in the future you could find yourself working for an AI boss. Would that be so bad? After all most of us have at some time had the deeply unpleasant experience of being managed by someone who was unpredictable, inconsistent, moody and over critical. Some one eager to take the credit for the work of others and equally quick to blame others if things went wrong.

An AI boss would be non of those things. You would know exactly where you stood, clear expectations, no sudden and unexpected changes of direction or approach, no ‘“ that’s not what I asked you to do”-when it definitely  was. No temper tantrums when things don’t go their way. No conspiracy theories or paranoia.

So maybe an AI boss would be better than a bad boss but would they be a good boss? Would they provide positive feed back and encouragement or would they simply expect you to do your job and see no reason for praising someone for doing what they were supposed to do. An AI could be programmed to send thank you notes on successful completion of major tasks or achieving targets but when my human chief executive did this the notes quickly became devalued once people realised that everyone was getting them!

An AI would have the capacity to closely monitor your every activity and provide continual feedback even more than so than the most critical micromanaging manager. You could expect an AI boss to be consistent and not to show favouritism but they would also be a stickler for the rules, in flexible, irrespective of your home circumstances.

I have a theory that much what goes on in large complex organisations that is innovative or unorthodox goes on under the senior management radar. If it worked it is an isolated example of good practice which may be picked up by the organisation and if it doesn’t work well senior management never need to know. Nothing goes under the radar in an AI organisation and AI bosses don’t do unauthorised.

What about the human touches that good managers do so well. An AI can’t bring in the cakes to celebrate their birthday. An AI doesn’t take annual leave so can’t come back from a family holiday with hilarious stories of delayed flights and unfinished hotels or wet weeks in a caravan in Wales with bored teenagers, all of which make a manager seem more human. Would an AI boss take any interest in your life outside of work? Let’s face it an AI boss would be a humourless, work obsessed, task master.