There’s something very authentic and real about the connection created by every individual recognition moment. But with artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly growing and evolving, how do you make sure recognition stays authentic? We don’t expect AI to write evocative, meaningful and celebratory content. But we do expect it to assist in creating something detailed, accurate and relevant.

Impactful recognition has four key facets and while they’re different, humans and AI can play significant roles in all four.

1. Recognition must be timely

AI should be used to alert managers – and potentially employees – when someone could be recognized. This can be because they have made progress toward a goal, accomplished a goal, were recognized by someone else or have not been recognized recently. The human aspect comes in when using common sense – is this the appropriate time to recognize? Or is the recognition coming too early or too late?

2. Recognition must be as specific as possible

Sometimes employees and managers may need a nudge that they should be more detailed when writing their recognition. AI can help with this by alerting the author to be more specific about what they’re recognizing. People can take the prompt and use their creativity to create a more detailed message.

3. Recognition must be personalized

AI can help managers by informing them how their employees like to be recognized, but ultimately, it’s up to the person to use their emotional intelligence to create a recognition moment that is personalized and meaningful to the recipient.

4. Recognition must be comparable to the effort

If an award feels small in comparison to the effort put forth, employees don’t feel valued. AI can suggest appropriate awards based on the type of achievement and size of the goal, but often this is subjective. The sender must ultimately determine what recognition and reward would feel meaningful to the recipient.

A tool like BI WORLDWIDE’s Recognition Assistant helps create meaningful and authentic recognition. This personal recognition assistant includes features that detect biases, translate messages to the recipient’s primary language, correct spelling and grammar and ensure specificity and relevance.

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It’s pivotal to keep the human element instead of automating recognition with AI. Attempting to remove a person from recognition risks a negative impact to a company’s culture and bottom line. And recognition is a deeply personal connection that benefits not only the receiver but also the giver.

Preserving true connections will continue to be the lifeline of an organization.