How to prepare your employees for generative AI in the workplace
It’s been a year since the launch of ChatGPT, a chatbot that became a global phenomenon overnight and ushered in an era of rapid technological innovation powered by generative AI. The series of AI developments that followed unleashed a global competition for AI dominance and forced governments, businesses and consumers to rethink what our world will look like in the age of generative AI.
This technology will have a profound impact on the future of work. While generative AI offers great potential to accelerate productivity and innovation, it poses new challenges for business leaders. For example, how do organizations prepare their workforce for a future where humans and AI work together to make critical decisions and perform complex tasks? How can they safely implement generative AI across the business? How do they ensure that no one is left behind?
Chief People Officer at Appian.
Business leaders and frontline workers have different views on AI
One concern about generative AI is that it will create new knowledge gaps within organizations. Recent data from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that these divisions are the most prominent within the company’s hierarchical levels. According to the research, 80% of leaders regularly use generative AI, compared to only 20% of frontline employees. Business leaders also tend to be more optimistic about the technology’s potential, with 62% of senior decision makers expressing this sentiment, compared to 42% of frontline employees.
These differences in attitudes toward AI could reflect people’s understanding of the technology. The research shows that 44% of leaders have received training on generative AI to sharpen their skills and stay relevant, while only 14% of frontline workers have received similar training. Familiarity with the technology, or lack thereof, appears to be causing further rifts between different generations within the workforce. Organizations must act quickly to bridge the generation gap.
Another concern is the generational differences in the use of AI in the workplace. Research shows that more than half of workers over the age of 35 are not using AI in the workplace, while 71% of younger workers are using these tools. This could create a divide between generations, leaving older workers who don’t understand the technology well. However, one of the most transformative features of generative AI is that it is very easy to use, meaning new users can easily learn the technology and use it to improve their productivity and performance.
Earlier this year, researchers from Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) conducted the world’s first large-scale empirical study on the impact of generative AI on employees. The data showed that lower-skilled workers saw the biggest increases in productivity thanks to generative AI. These early data on the technology’s impact indicate that generative AI offers tremendous opportunities for organizations to improve productivity and level the playing field for all employees by freeing up more time to focus on more meaningful work. But to benefit from this, companies must act quickly to bridge the AI gap and equip all employees with the right skills to make the most of generative AI.
Building a secure AI environment and promoting an AI-friendly culture
To realize the full benefits of generative AI, business leaders must enable everyone in their workforce to use the technology safely and effectively. This means building a culture of knowledge, understanding and responsibility towards AI. Before rolling out formal training, companies should consider how they can protect their intellectual property and their employees from the risks associated with generative AI.
Allowing broad use of public AI applications like ChatGPT comes with significant risks, as all data fed into their algorithms is publicly accessible, potentially exposing sensitive customer data and business trade secrets to the prying eyes of malicious actors or your competitors. To mitigate these risks, organizations should consider a private AI model, which means all data, AI algorithms and IT infrastructure are managed entirely within the company.
In this scenario, AI models are trained only on data that the organization owns or has access to. By training data in a private AI environment, the organization can gain more control over the data and the outcome. By going private, AI models stay with the organization. Therefore, unique algorithms and trade secrets remain protected for competitive advantage. This approach creates a more secure environment where employees can use generative AI without exposing their organization to security risks. Most importantly, this protects the data privacy of employees, customers and business partners.
Once you’ve created a secure AI environment, it’s essential to establish clear policies and guidelines for its use across the business and roll out a comprehensive training program that touches every part of your organization, tailored to different technical skills and experience levels. This strategy allows you to empower your workforce to get the most out of AI and create an AI-friendly culture that promotes a deeper understanding of the technology and an exponential increase in its benefits to the business.
We’ve highlighted the best online collaboration tool.
This article was produced as part of Ny BreakingPro’s Expert Insights channel, where we profile the best and brightest minds in today’s technology industry. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Ny BreakingPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing, you can read more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro