In a world where AI is everywhere, you don’t need a report from McKinsey to tell you that gen AI has really hit the mainstream big time, driving a huge uptick in investment in the technology.
It’s already transforming all kinds of jobs and research from the United States suggests that most business functions can be augmented, automated, or reimagined with gen AI. It’s also accessible to almost any employee in any organisation because you get gen AI to work using natural language commands rather than code.
Unlocking innovation through AI
Over here in Australia, momentum is building. Innes Willox, Chief Executive of the national employer association Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), says that the adoption of AI is central to meeting the challenges of digitalisation, decarbonisation, and diversification. In a speech given last year, he said, “The most responsible thing that Australian businesses can do for their customers, suppliers, staff – and indeed the Australian economy – is to embrace the potential of AI to transform their businesses. If harnessed properly, AI will improve productivity, unlock human capital, and lift our international competitiveness.”
If it’s about simplifying processes – then automation with AI can do that. If it’s about enhancing the sales process 24x7, then a well-trained chatbot can do that, expertly guiding customers through the sales funnel at the customer’s convenience. If it’s about getting more stuff done, then an AI assistant can do that too, drafting content, researching insights, or scheduling appointments while you spend time mentoring your team. And for anyone who’s been on the receiving end of drab Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, what’s not to love about the AI tools now transforming PowerPoint into powerful and into a whole new world of wonderful?
Artificial intelligence use cases
For organisations across industries, there’s no end to the smart use cases for the application of AI technology to meet crucial business needs, such as:
- Automotive: Enabling AI-driven safety features in vehicles
- Aviation: Tracking aircraft systems for safety and performance
- Construction: Monitoring safety compliance
- E-commerce: Recommending products based on customer preferences and behaviour
- Entertainment: Tailoring content recommendations
- Healthcare: Creating personalised treatment plans based on patient data
- Hospitality: Enhancing guest experiences through personalised service offerings
- Manufacturing: Mitigating risk through monitoring machinery and workplace conditions and scheduling staff based on production demands
- Retail: Managing customer service requests and order inquiries
- Telecommunications: Shoring up data security
But while there are an infinite number of ways AI can enhance business operations and output, it’s important not to get carried away. Remember, AI is artificial intelligence, not real intelligence. AI’s intelligence comes from data pattern-matching, machine learning, and a good data model. As yet, AI can’t understand nuance and context. It can’t exercise judgment. And it certainly can’t apply common sense. Though it’s easy to forget that ChatGPT is inherently stupid (in the sense that it’s a large language model and lacks real intelligence) because it’s so good at producing grammatically correct words that at first read sounds like sense. But when you actually read the output rather than scan it, there’s often a lack substance. And it’s not uncommon for the grammatically correct verbiage to be littered with inaccuracies and made-up facts. The data you get out is only as good as the data used to train the model.
Earlier this year, in a sign of the times, a chatbot from Air Canada made the headlines when the airline was ordered to pay compensation after its chatbot gave a customer misleading information. Making matters worse, the airline then sought to distance itself from the error by claiming that the bot was “responsible for its own actions”. This case provides an early wake-up call for others to remember that when allowing certain business functions to be performed by a friendly bot, you are still responsible for its actions. Overlooking this can at best leave your communications department a little red-faced. At worst, it can cause considerable reputational damage.
Intelligent use of AI
At imei, we’re taking a leaf out of AI Group’s playbook in that we’re exploring the use of AI across our operations in the quest to enhance service delivery and unlock innovation potential. We’re not looking to replace our exceptional customer service and support talent with bots or replace creative staff by using bots to create our marketing content. We think it’s better to let humans do the thinking, servicing, supporting, and writing using bots as they see fit to deliver the best possible output.
Disclaimer: No AI tools were used in the creation of this content.
