AI can enhance human expertise and worker well-being, Clear Capital's EVP of strategy and growth says

Kenon Chen.

Clear Capital

• Kenon Chen, a member of BI's Workforce Innovation board, is Clear Capital's strategy and growth EVP.
• He views AI as a chance to improve workplace processes and give employees the tools to innovate.
• This article is part of "Workforce Innovation," a series exploring the forces shaping enterprise transformation.

Business Insider's "Workforce Innovation" series is gathering perspectives from a wide variety of industry verticals and corporate roles to talk about the drivers of change in companies — particularly artificial intelligence, diversity, equity, and inclusion, worker well-being, and C-suite transformation.

Kenon Chen, the executive vice president of strategy and growth at Clear Capital, is spending a lot of his time looking at the intersection of AI and worker well-being.

His company provides technology solutions for valuing real estate. "Clear Capital is really about helping people make good decisions on properties based on accurate data," Chen said. He leads Clear Capital's strategy and go-to-market team and manages product partnerships, marketing, and sales.

In an interview, Chen said that workers were understandably nervous about the potential for AI to take jobs.

As a participant in BI's Workforce Innovation board, he's hoping to talk about how to surface the positive outcomes of AI.

"It could also be the thing that helps workers have a better work experience," he said. "Because they have the right tools they need to do their job really well and be efficient and then focus on the things that really need human expertise, the harder problems to solve."

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Why is the topic of workforce innovation a priority now?

It's important for a few different reasons. One, culture and people are extremely important to our business. We have a number of core values that put people at the center of what we do, and how we think about being successful is really all around this idea of finding ways to improve the lives of those around you — whether it's little things throughout the day that remove stress or large solutions for how we can take care of our customers.

But in a post-COVID-19 remote environment, workforce innovation is so important because how do you maintain a strong sense of your core values and culture as you're embracing efficiencies and new tools to innovate?

You work in the real-estate sector. What workplace issues are specific to your vertical and business?

Absolutely. We work with valuation professionals: These are real-estate brokers, agents, and appraisers who have expertise in understanding what a home is worth, and the process of analyzing data to form a credible opinion of the value of a home in any location in the country.

We use AI, as well, to create other ways of valuing properties, such as automated valuation models that use AI to predict the value. We have a number of automated tools that let you use computer vision and AI to scan the home and generate an accurate floor plan.

There are certainly fears that go along with that. Is AI, while it might have some benefits to create more accuracy, consistency, and better data, going to replace professionals? And what's the interplay between what highly trained certified professionals with local-market understanding bring to the table [and] innovation going with AI and data?

How we bring workforces together with modern tools in a way that doesn't just replace people but provides a better end product is a lot of what the industry's struggling with right now.

What are some concrete examples of how you're integrating AI innovation into the workforce?

We acquired a company called CubiCasa a few years ago that has an automated-floor-plan app that anyone can use on their phone — no special training or equipment — and walk through a home, scan the home, and it generates an automated floor plan and all of the data associated with that.

We see that as an opportunity to enhance the process, not necessarily replace people but put better tools into people's hands.

So I think there is a path where technology makes the process more consistent but also gives options to our clients who have different risk levels for what types of tools they need for a particular decision. It's just a question of knowing how to make those options available and also equip people with the right technology at the right time.

What are the leadership challenges AI companies are facing now?

I hear a lot of conversations that go to concerns around people's jobs being replaced or people's skill sets maybe not being as appreciated anymore if there's an AI equivalent available. One of the quotes I heard from the CTO of United Wholesale Mortgage is that it's not going to be AI that replaces people but people who use AI that will replace people, in terms of jobs.

I don't think it has to be a binary conversation: Is AI going to replace people or not replace people? I think there's a very strong link between the idea of worker well-being and AI because whenever there's fear of a new technology that seems powerful enough to cause some disruption, that creates a certain amount of fear and uncertainty for workers.

Yet it could also be the thing that helps workers have a better work experience because they have the right tools they need to do their job really well and be efficient and then focus on the things that really need human expertise, the harder problems to solve.

In what other ways is AI driving change?

One of the things I've been thinking about lately is the human element when we talk about AI, especially when we talk about generative AI. I think it's activated both sides of the brain for the first time. With machine learning and big data, it's activated the logic center of our brain — we're making predictions; we're replacing statistics with supersmart models.

But with generative AI, we're talking about some of the creative aspects of things, using it to generate imagery and writing. With that, we now have this opportunity to talk about things like, "If I could create music with this, if I can create these other things, how do I deal with that?"

So I think it's worth — instead of thinking about this just as tools and products and tech, we could start having a more holistic conversation about how this actually impacts both our personal lives and the way we go about doing creative things and our business life and the products we create. I think there's room for both at the table for conversation.

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