Sponsored content: How to introduce AI into safety conversations without triggering fear

By Jim Wolfinbarger, Motorola Solutions.

The adoption of artificial intelligence technologies across multiple industries is becoming increasingly widespread, with businesses and organizations leveraging AI to optimize productivity and improve operational efficiency. However, despite its potential benefits in the workplace, many employees, customers and associates regularly express concern about how AI will impact their operations.

The adoption rate of the technology is increasing significantly among public safety agencies. A report published by the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) suggested that over 90% of large law enforcement agencies have implemented some form of AI. Its introduction demonstrates how various AI-assisted hardware and software are expanding towards more analytical applications to improve public services.

But incorporating AI intelligence in such a human-centric sector can create uncertainty. Safety conversations, in particular, can cause uneasiness among professionals, especially where team members such as call handlers and responders generally anticipate worst-case scenarios. Implementing new technologies and expecting operators to trust their capabilities can lead to fear of miscalculation, insufficient communication and inaccuracies.

Subsequently, reassuring safety professionals when introducing AI-assisted tools in such a significant capacity can be challenging. However, there are a few steps one can use to help sustain these conversations.

Retaining values

Introducing a conversation about AI’s impact on safety professionals without considering the people and operational circumstances within the agency is likely to elicit some hesitation. However, as many leaders did during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, retaining a set of values and sharing them amongst the team can help ease worry about the effects of such an operational change.

AI is still a relatively new tool, but its rapid development and implementation are what leave agency staff questioning their roles and how they’ll coexist with the technology. Clear, transparent and regular communication about how AI and the safety agency’s values can provide direction during technological transitions.

Many public safety agencies’ values emphasize protecting people from harm, serving the community for the greater good and displaying compassion. Retaining these values when sharing such substantial operational changes can lay the foundation for a conversation that doesn’t spark fear.

Positioning as support

Introducing AI as a tool to enhance those values can help frame the technology as a support mechanism rather than a replacement. Again, where safety is a human-driven operation, recognizing that operators and officers will still have a role to play in the agency can help ease fears in the conversation.

An example of support positioning from AI-assisted technologies is the White Bear Lake Police Department in Minnesota, which is incorporating AI in public safety with Motorola Solutions’ new Assist Suites. The agency implemented various software to help manage a larger influx of calls effectively, respond more accurately and improve efficiency in administrative tasks.

Emphasizing that AI can streamline a safety professional’s job can allow some breathing space during transition. The White Bear Lake Police Department has spent less time on administrative tasks, allowing the team to “return to proactive policing”.

Acknowledging fears

Despite framing the technology as helpful and supportive, the uncertainty behind AI’s evolution can frequently trigger fears. The rapid pace of advancement can raise two concerns for safety organizations: job security and software errors.

Sharing the benefits of implementing AI into safety operations may not be enough to help alleviate these worries. Therefore, acknowledging the fears that operators and officers have in these areas can help foster a sense of understanding, so they feel they’re still integral to the agency.

Safety leaders can build trust and create a connection by acknowledging fears and holding frequent conversations to keep the team in the loop regarding the technology’s implementation.

Though AI can be a beneficial tool for streamlining dispatch and field team tasks, reluctance to use the technology has been a global implementation obstacle. Safety leaders will need to consider the “AI adoption paradox” when integrating applications into workflows, including employees’ fears of making mistakes and being replaced. Acknowledging these worries can help foster a mutual understanding that the new tools support rather than supplant existing workflows.

Professional transparency

In addition to acknowledging fears, keeping dialogue open within the team can help quell concerns regarding AI transformations. In a fast-paced, detail-oriented public safety operations environment, team members will likely have regular questions and queries about current agency circumstances.

Again, trust is a primary metric that helps shape a more robust workplace. However, some organizations have not implemented AI tools in ways that build trust between leaders and team members.

“Explainability” has been cited as a core issue in AI adoption, as employees doubt the technology’s effectiveness because leaders aren’t able to easily explain the inner workings of the implemented platforms and how they will actually improve operations. In public safety, the adoption of such a young technology at an increasingly rapid rate will require leaders to explain the whys and hows to create transparency, ultimately helping mitigate fear triggers.

Emphasising evolution

One of the most important factors to consider with AI conversations in safety agencies is that teams may not respond to labels such as “game-changer” or “disruptive”. Where there’s any suggestion that the technology will lead to a complete overhaul of the organizations, it may quickly raise fears.

The disruptive innovation theory demonstrates that AI is a tool that can help shape existing operations, not something to replace them. Emphasizing that the technology is part of the safety industry’s incremental evolution can ground the transition in an agency’s values, helping build the conversation from those foundations.

About the author:

Jim Wolfinbarger is the retired seventh chief of the Colorado State Patrol, where he spearheaded state-level preparedness and large-scale emergency communications. He is currently vice president of Real-Time Intelligence at Motorola Solutions, which helps to protect people, property and places with innovative safety and security technology. He oversees command center and drone technologies and is a leading voice on the responsible adoption of AI and data-driven decision-making in public safety.

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