Digital transformation and the rise of Generative AI
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation, leading many enterprises to adopt remote and hybrid workplaces and, with it, a slew of digital collaboration tools. Many observers believe companies are now three to four years ahead in their digital transformation journey. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools are just the latest innovation in the digital transformation toolbox.
Tools like ChatGPT have captured the imagination of many, leading to countless articles and podcasts about the end of work as we know it. While it is true that AI tools will fundamentally change many roles and workflows, they won’t be replacing humans just yet. Instead, they will be replacing mainly repetitive and manual tasks, allowing workers to focus on more strategic and creative work that requires human expertise.
For example, AI is set to replace about 80 percent of the tasks currently performed by project managers, including collecting data, keeping track of progress, and generating reports. Likewise, AI can help make research, writing tasks and content development more efficient. But AI currently cannot motivate teams or have a keen eye to ensure quality and factual information.
In fact, AI is prone to “hallucinations” – making up its own set of facts. In our era of AI, it will become even more important to have a human manage the output. Although early discussions around AI have focused on job loss due to the automation of many functions previously performed by humans, the discourse now mainly examines how AI is changing the nature of jobs. AI will both lead to jobs becoming more specialized as routine tasks are automated and to task diversification, where employees carry out a range of tasks that used to require specialist skills.
Beyond automating business workflows and working as assistants, AI is also working behind the scenes, pulling in data from a vast network of sensors and “awareness” applications. This data is fueling a vast ecosystem of invisible business – decisions made by AI behind the scenes that create real-world effects and economic value.
But before we dive into the value AI is creating, we should look briefly at how it all began.