AI - what's it all about?

AI is streamlining business operations, while boosting productivity and efficiencies across a number of industries. Whether it is making cancer diagnoses with the Watson super computer at super human speeds or the addition of chat bots to a business’s customer service repertoire, we are entering a world where AI will replace many of the repetitive tasks that we perform today. This will create an opportunity for those affected to gain and develop new and more diverse skills. While still in its infancy, AI technology has the ability to speed up analysis when it comes to predictive maintenance in manufacturing and tighten security with facial recognition. 

Which sectors or countries have led the way in adopting AI and why? Are there particular types of sector or job role which best lend themselves to this kind of technology? Are there any uses that are particularly surprising or controversial?

1) China has made its intentions clear when it comes to stealing the AI crown, having announced its intention to be a world leader in AI by 2030. Apart from creating over 10,000 AI research papers in 2015 alone, with the largest population in the world China has access to more data than any other nation – a prerequisite for training machine learning. However, the USA is leading the way, tech goliaths such as Google, Amazon and Apple are investing heavily in AI. But as the hunt goes on to acquire the top talent, these companies are expanding – for instance with Facebook opening an AI lab in Paris to supplement its New York and Silicon Valley bases in order to soak up European talent. That said, according to research recently launched by CognitionX, ‘London: The AI Growth Capital of Europe’, London is home to double the number of AI companies than closest rivals Paris and Berlin combined.

2) AI may be the next frontier, but its adoption across sectors is mirroring the general move towards digital transformation across sectors – it is essentially the next step on from digitisation. So, while all sectors have something to gain from AI investments, with the likes of healthcare bringing tangible benefits such as accessible healthcare thanks to doctors’ apps, it is the sectors that have already established themselves within the digital realm that are best placed to exploit them. According to a McKinsey report, there is high adoption of AI in telecoms, automotive and financial services; retail, CPG (consumer packaged goods) and media are classed as medium adopters. It might be surprising that healthcare is in the lower ranks of AI adoption, considering the human impact of such investments. However, one of the key characteristics of early AI adopters at least for now is a focus on growth over savings.

3) There has been much made of AI’s ability to outsmart human beings. The catalyst for this was Google’s AlphaGo-playing AI system winning against the grandmaster, Lee Sedol in March 2016. But what is perhaps more impressive is AI’s ability to learn the art of creativity. As the development of Cambridge Consultants’ ‘Vincent’ demonstrates – which is capable of completing a drawing that has been started with a human sketch – the creative industries are also open to AI disruption.

What is the business case here? Is it purely cost saving in terms of replacing humans, or is there an argument that AI can deliver a better and/or more efficient service?

Artificial Intelligence should be complementary to the workforce. Yes, it will ultimately result in cost savings and boosted efficiency, impacting organisations across the value chain from forecasting, to optimised production, targeted marketing and enhanced user experience. But, the focus should be on how we then upskill our human workforce to take advantage of these benefits. In many cases the benefits will be found on the administrative side – so how can we then utilise a workforce with this recovered time and energy to focus on the more creative, strategic or social elements? Businesses that can implement an AI strategy that extracts the true value of their data, tailors it effectively to their organisation and utilise their human workforce effectively will no doubt have the competitive edge. Already those early adopters have a major advantage, with time on their side in terms of machine learning and the increased agility afforded by AI to react with greater efficiency to meet business demands.

What other issues does this present for CEOs and their employees considering the potential for job losses?

Technological disruption will always be disconcerting for the workforce, as we have seen over the decades. Managed well though, business leaders can help not only champion AI technology and its business benefits, but educate their employees on what is and what it means for them. Transparency and training to help prepare employees for any changes will be essential when it comes to gaining trust. Soft skills will become increasingly important, like adaptability and flexibility. By evolving team culture to reflect the needs of the future workplace now, businesses can help their workforce through a smoother transition.

An important point to remember in this discussion is the reality of modern workloads. With employees often overloaded and employers often reluctant to invest in additional team members to share the load, the addition of AI to the workforce could be both a human and business solution. Unburdening employees from the more laborious, administrative tasks could either give them more time to focus on the more strategic or creative tasks – or simply give them time back and enable a shorter working day, which could improve productivity as well as employee satisfaction and loyalty.

The retraining and upskilling of employees should be viewed as a long-term investment. They will need to understand how best to utilise data-driven insights that have been turbocharged by AI technology. This cultural change takes time, and helping employees adjust to collaborating with AI as co-workers is not to be underestimated.

How is this likely to develop in the future? What kind of impact will AI have on the make-up of the workforce, and even how/where we work in future?

We are only just beginning to comprehend the possibilities of AI, and the so-called AI revolution is just in its infancy. Once important legal, ethical and regulatory challenges are fully understood and addressed, the technology will be able to develop more quickly, in a way that is not only beneficial to society, but free to truly reach its potential.

AI will undoubtedly change the way we work and the way we do business. It will lighten the load for employees weighed down by the administrative tasks that, let’s face it, very few of us enjoy. This will pave the way for emphasis on softer skills, from creativity and people skills, to strategy and analysis.

Employees will become life-long learners in order to pivot between jobs as business accelerates. This fundamentally impacts the educational system and which skills will become crucial for the future workforce. Similarly, as businesses become increasingly scalable and agile, as they step beyond digitisation to AI-powered, flexible working contracts are likely to become more normalised. This could naturally lead to more mobile working strategies, which in turn requires organisations to make changes in their cultural mindsets to be able to attract and retain talent.