Workhuman, an Irish tech company, has built a $1.2bn revenue business out of what chief executive Eric Mosley calls the “core human need to be appreciated and the corresponding need to express gratitude”.
It might sound ironic, then, that it is turning to artificial intelligence to help staff deliver feedback to their co-workers.
The “social recognition” platform, where colleagues post praise for each others’ work and can recommend corresponding rewards, received an AI upgrade last month. With the click of a pen icon, users can call on a (sometimes condescending) virtual assistant to “coach” them to deliver a message with a bit more depth.