Would Myles Garrett be Defensive Player of the Year if AI, not humans, made the pick?

Are AI evaluations coming to the workplace?

Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett edged out Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt to win the NFL’s best defensive player award this year. As with most awards, the decision sparked vigorous debate. 

Watt – who received just four fewer first-place votes than Garrett’s – finished the 2023 regular season with better statistics in a similar number of games:

  • Watt made 48 tackles to Garrett’s 33. 

  • He had 19 sacks to Garrett’s 14. 

  • He totaled more than twice as many assisted tackles (20) than Garrett (9). 

If ChatGPT4 analyzed these stats, there’s a good chance Watt would have come out on top in the award’s voting. 

But human sports writers, not AI chatbots, made the selection and they most certainly considered that Myles played on the top-ranked defense in the league and was frequently double-teamed. “Look at the film,’’ was a frequent retort of those who stood by the Garrett pick.

Can AI promote or demote you?

In our growing AI world, humans are beginning to be squeezed out of some tasks, leaving less room for subjective, holistic and even emotional criteria.

U.S. workers are worried about this, according to a recent report out of Rutgers University in New Jersey. They’re concerned that AI-generated algorithms will do the hiring, firing, evaluating and promoting instead of humans.

Workers fear they won’t get the opportunity to discuss their virtues with the hiring officer or boss, and instead, an AI algorithm will decide whether they get hired, stay or go, the director of RU’s Heldrich Center for Workforce Development told NPR’s Marketplace. 

The report found:

  • 7 out of 10 U.S. workers say they’re “very” or “somewhat” concerned about employers using AI in human resources decision-making

  • 3 in 10 are worried about their job being eliminated by AI

Intangibles Matter in the Workplace

AI already reviews resumes, brainstorms and writes emails, social media posts and more. But like Garrett’s performance this past football season, worker hiring and evaluation deserve more than just an algorithmic analysis by computer intelligence. Numbers are just one metric.

Can AI determine who’s a team player and who’s toxic? Can it identify who stays late to get a project done and who bails out early? Can it recognize who’s a leader and problem solver and who likes to sit back and complain? Can it identify who is unethical or corrupt and who is honest and transparent?

AI is coming fast but we need to be sure we don’t lean on it fully for all of our business decisions. 

Note: Image created by AI. The writing is not.

Sue Valerian