Upon reflecting on the timeline of tech advances, we recognise the fears and concerns that accompanied each milestone. And if we’re to believe Elon Musk’s comments at the recent AI Safety Summit, GenAI is one of the greatest existential threats to humanity! (2).
Yet, history has shown that humanity possesses an extraordinary capacity to adapt and to overcome these fears, leveraging technology for positive change. By embracing curiosity, fostering understanding, and cultivating a mindset of adaptability, we can understand the fear and confidently navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology. While AI could be seen as just the next technological advancement in our timeline, the unprecedented opportunities for efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage, means that organisations need to be prepared for a far more seismic shift.
The UK AI market is already worth nearly £17 billion, and is expected to grow to over £800 billion by 2035 (3) and AI has gained such widespread prominence that Collins Dictionary named AI as the 2023 Word of the Year. But the change is only just beginning. According to Gartner, GenAI is at the ‘peak of inflated expectations’ in the emerging technologies hype cycle (4) which means we’re seeing a lot of media hype but not all companies are taking action yet…
“While AI could be seen as just the next technological advancement in our timeline, the unprecedented opportunities for efficiency, innovation, and competitive advantage, means that organisations need to be prepared for a far more seismic shift”
So why not?
Organisations recognise that GenAI is much more than a mere integration of new technologies into existing business processes. Instead, it necessitates a holistic approach that will fundamentally transform the entire organisation; disrupting business models, redefining roles and responsibilities accompanied by a shift in leadership mindset and culture. AI itself has been around for a while. Indeed, back in 2018, my colleague Gary Ashton wrote about the new opportunities arising from a kind of AI called ‘deep learning’ for Repurposing, Augmentation & Productivity (RAP) – prompting leaders to think about the far-reaching organisational consequences. And the principles still stand today. Rather than fearing mass job losses, leaders need to explore the opportunities of repurposing and redesign; considering how AI can augment human capabilities, freeing up employee time to focus on higher-value tasks that require creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence.
The big question now is, how can your organisation prepare for such seismic change? (when speed is important but much of the detail of the change is unknown!).
“Move fast and break things” was Zuckerberg’s mantra to drive success in a digital age. However, given the recent establishment of an international AI Safety Summit, some of the potential risks are very real so perhaps now it’s more a case of moving fast and not breaking things?
In our experience, a useful first step for leadership teams to navigate such transformational, ambiguous change is to ‘Go on AI Safari’. This is a workshop where we can facilitate discussions around the art of the possible and help leaders to ‘see the future now‘. We explore the opportunities by leveraging our network to visit businesses or start-ups that are already working on AI, in order to accelerate your thinking and develop use cases to simulate real-life potential scenarios.
In our next article, we will share our emerging ideas around AI readiness – exploring key change architecture elements such as strategic planning, robust governance, stakeholder engagement, upskilling/reskilling initiatives, and organisational culture.
In the meantime, I leave you with two questions to help think about how ready your organisation is:
1. On a scale of 1-10, how do you rate yourself in terms of your knowledge and confidence using AI?
2. Now, on the same scale, can you think of anyone in your organisation who you’d rate a 7?
How big is the gap?
For more information about OE Cam’s AI Safari, please contact Jodie Hughes or Gary Ashton.
References
1. Forbes – https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/business/software/uk-artificial-intelligence-ai-statistics-2023/
2. BBC interview on UK AI Safety Summit – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ79ubcflhQ
3. Value of UK AI market – https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/united-kingdom-artificial-intelligence-market-0#:~:text=The%20UK’s%20AI%20market%20is,the%20UK%20economy%20by%202035
4. Garter Hype Cycles – https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-08-16-gartner-places-generative-ai-on-the-peak-of-inflated-expectations-on-the-2023-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies
JODIE HUGHES
Jodie is a Business Psychologist in OE Cam’s Talent Management practice. She has a keen interest in understanding the role individual differences play in the workplace; specifically how strengths, weaknesses and preferences impact the way people work individually and as part of a team. She applies a broad variety of psychometrics with her clients and is experienced in designing and facilitating leadership development to enable individuals to work more effectively.
