AI Demystified: Practical Insights for the Modern Business Leader

Demystifying AI

• Think of one daily task you have to complete and consider using AI to do it.
• The key is to find things where AI is really good and understand where it’s not so good.
• People need to exercise their judgement to get the most out of AI.
• People have been fascinated with AI since the 20th Century.

What is an AI model?

• It’s a programme that’s been trained to process specific tasks by processing large amounts of data and learning from it.
• The AI will be very good at what you specifically train it to.
• AIs are prediction machines.

What is generative AI?

• It’s been popular since the latter half of 2022.
• It can generate new content, videos, images, text, even music.
• It uses algorithms and neural networks to understand particular data.
• What the different AI applications (e.g. Jasper, copy.ai) are doing is simply picking and choosing aspects of the model it wants to use.
• The skill of AI applications and the people who create them is putting the AI models to use to access different information in the model.
• Give it a try:
  – ChatGPT (text/code/images)
  – Stable diffusion (images)
  – DALL-E 3 (images)
  – Jasper (Text)
  – Videos (text to video)

Why now?

• We have the data, computational power and large language models available to us now.

What do we predict next?

• ChatGPT 5 will arrive later this year and the expectation is that it’ll be more revolutionary.
• That we know is that it will be better at video, images, and administration tasks.

AI in business today

• Will AI replace us all? There are many predictions being made by researchers but the reality is no one knows what will happen.
• What we’re noticing with AI research and predictions is that they’re not taking into account the lived experience of employees.
• McKinsey say AI will have the biggest impact on knowledge workers. But will we really trust it with decision making, and collaboration?
• Think back, did calculators replace accountants? It’s a simplistic example but it did shift some aspects of the role while other jobs were created as a result of it.
• It’s true, robots can help us get things done, and get things done better and faster.
• We’ll see more roles around strategic thinking, more interpersonal roles emerging.
• ChatGPT is set up to please us, it tries to give us what we’re looking for.
• The level of unpredictability in ChatGPT is not something businesses can trust.

Emotional intelligence and AI leads to better results

• To get the most out of AI we need to understand people better – not just robots.
• If we understand how people work with these machines, we can tailor the machines to get better outputs.
• AI is highly specialised and humans are highly specific. AI can whittle options down from 100 to 10 in seconds. But it’s not very good at whittling things down from 10 to 1. That’s where humans come in.
• On its own, AI can get good enough results. With humans, AI can get excellent results.

Use cases for AI in business today

• Document processing
• Customer service
• Creative production
• Data analysis

Examples of AI

• Kofax TotalAgility: AI-powered document processing
• IBM Watson: AI-powered customer service
• Grid Dynamics: AI-powered creative production
• Viable: AI-powered data analysis

Ethical governance

There are big risks for companies using using AI:

• Potential for bias
• Unpredictability
• Data security
• Misuse
• Manipulability

Explore the world of AI in this session, where we’ll simplify its technical aspects, examine its impact on business efficiency and decision-making, and delve into the ethical and privacy challenges it poses. The session will equip you with the knowledge to leverage AI effectively and ethically in your roles.

Your key takeaways from this webinar will be:

• Demystifying AI Technology: Gain a clear understanding of the basic principles and workings of AI, making it practical and approachable.
• Understand AI’s Role in Business: Learn how AI is transforming business processes, enhancing efficiency and decision-making.
• Ethical and Governance Challenges: Explore the key ethical considerations and governance challenges AI presents, emphasising responsible and informed usage in organisations.

Clark Boyd is CEO and founder of AI marketing simulations company Novela. He is also a digital strategy consultant, author, and trainer. Over the last 12 years, he has devised and implemented international strategies for brands including American Express, Adidas, and General Motors.

Today, Clark works with business schools at the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, and Columbia University to design and deliver their executive-education courses on data analytics and digital marketing. He is also a faculty professor of entrepreneurship and management at Hult International Business School.

Clark is a certified Google trainer and runs Google workshops across Europe and the Middle East. He has delivered keynote speeches on AI at leadership events in Latin America, Europe, and the US