Photo by Hitesh Choudhary on Unsplash
 

Everyone’s talking about it, or feeling ill at ease for knowing nothing about it. Artificial Intelligence, AI, is big, growing fast, and will revolutionize business—but in ways, we may not understand now. There are some key points that business leaders should understand today in order to prepare for tomorrow’s use of AI.
 

AI is a tool

A woodworker probably uses a table saw. It can speed up work, can increase accuracy, but it can also mangle perfectly good wood while cutting off a thumb. Some learning is needed by anyone using a tool in order to use it safely and productively.

Those using AI today should avail themselves of what others have learned already, through trying it, reading, discussions, and the seminars that are popping up. Business leaders should understand that their employees will become more productive from this technology, but it requires some upfront investment of time. The initial time spent may seem wasted, but playing around with the tools builds skills.
 

AI productivity potential

The old joke goes, “Speed, quality, low price: pick any two.” But AI has the potential to supercharge all three.

Many labor-intensive tasks are now sped up through AI. Some of the early adopters were computer programmers who quickly find ways to complete a particular task. They pull up Chat GPT or one of the other Large Language Models, copy their existing code, and describe what they want to do next. The AI returns the computer code that does it. The whole process takes a few seconds.

Quality of work can improve thanks to AI. I was outlining an article on a subject I’m very familiar with. Just as a test, I threw the topic into AI. It gave me five points. I already had three, I rejected a fourth and realized that the AI’s fifth point was good and that I should add the concept to my outline. That certainly improved the quality of my article.

Costs will usually fall if workers get the job done faster, and at higher quality. Many companies now offer AI tools to help specific business tasks be completed less expensively. Auditoria.ai, for example, can automate responses to routine inquiries about accounts payable and receivable. If it works successfully, fewer staff members will be needed and service to vendors and customers will be improved.

The direction of the future will be that AI programs will be applied to specific issues. When a customer calls about a device that’s not working, AI can be trained to give the correct answer quickly. A business leader might look at the organization specifically for areas where humans are doing work too complicated for the old systems to handle automatically, but which don’t require creative solutions.
 

AI problems

Any tool can cause problems, especially in the early versions. Think of current versions of AI like an early automobile: no seat belts, unreliable brakes, prone to fire, but a big improvement over the horse and buggy.

AI’s biggest challenge right now is making stuff up, called hallucinations. Stories abound with AI errors about factual statements that simply are false. Worse than simply false, these hallucinations sound very plausible. This problem will be fixed at some point, but right now factual statements are not to be trusted from chat AIs.
 

AI’s Future in Business

The exact details of AI’s role in business cannot yet be charted, but it will certainly be big. There will be problems along the way, failed efforts, and dead ends. But within a couple of years, many business functions will be dramatically revolutionized.

Business leaders should ensure that their managers are learning more about the tools, testing different uses, and encouraging their subordinates to learn more. No CEO can know how AI will change the work done across the company. But all CEOs should encourage learning, testing, and trials across their organizations.

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