Is Generative Artificial Intelligence Going to Replace You at Work?
It depends on how much of your work can be automated through AI technology. It will therefore be vital to embrace AI to increase your value and productivity and to find your uniquely human worth.
Pleased to meet you. Now let’s get to work.
2023 was one of the most exciting years for generative AI, with endless product launches, intense policy debates about AI ethics and job displacement, and the ongoing tech race to find the next best thing powered by AI. The year started with tech companies throwing immense resources at AI, embedding powerful new AI tools into dozens of existing products. For instance, Google’s latest AI language tool, PaLM2, will be integrated into over 25 products including Gmail, Maps, Docs, and its chatbot Bard. This intensity is being witnessed throughout the entire tech industry.
What seems to be developing is an understanding that the real value of AI isn’t in being smarter than humans but helping humans enhance their productivity by improving efficiencies and making smarter decisions. We are entering what will likely be called the 4th industrial revolution, utilizing generative AI in ways that will eliminate some jobs, enhance others, and create new jobs beyond our current imagination.
I have been historically skeptical on the real value of data and have long held the position that data is not an asset until it is transformed into something of genuine value that did not previously exist. Is generative AI the technology we have been waiting for that finally transforms our use of data into game-changing breakthroughs?
Chip producer Nvidia seems to believe so. CEO Jensen Huang said, “Generative AI has kicked off a whole new investment cycle to build the next trillion dollars of infrastructure of AI generation factories,” predicting a doubling of the world data center infrastructure over the next five years.
Maybe that’s just the opinion of a tech CEO with something to gain. Or perhaps he’s on to something that the rest of us need to watch. Can generative AI really transform the way we interact with technology to make us hyper-productive? How will this reconfigure our organizational hierarchy? Will entire layers of management simply dissolve?
Technology disrupts all industries – for the better
Do we want generative AI to enhance human progress, or do we want it to replace work? The answer is both; AI should allow humans to enhance their productivity through the replacement of work. Which means re-evaluating and re-prioritizing what we do for a living, identifying areas of unique human value, and letting AI perform the bulk of the rest of the work.
It's premature to illustrate exactly how this will look in practical terms beyond today’s generative text and images. We’re already seeing how AI can be used in pattern-matching tasks such as reviewing case law, or processing insurance claims. Beyond that, it’s a matter of imagination and willingness to properly harness AI’s potential.
The development of vocal biomarkers analyzed by AI holds the promise of diagnosing Type 2 diabetes by a simple six-to-ten second sample of a person’s voice through their smartphone. I imagine that the evaluation of new pharmaceuticals can be accelerated with the most serious interactions and side effects calculated through AI in hours instead of years. And with digital security being top-of-mind with all technology-driven industries, the threat of cyberattack does not disappear but is severely disrupted through generative AI and its ability to predict attack vectors and write code to thwart damage almost instantly as only a machine can.
The generative AI application examples listed above will, no doubt, enhance human progress. And, of course, they will also replace work that would have otherwise been performed by humans. Automation has done this for years, but this time it will touch almost everyone.
How will AI impact your work?
In order to prepare yourself for the transformative impact of generative AI, ask yourself a few questions:
• What do you really do for a living? Can your work be automated? Chances are, much of it can.
• Today, what can you do differently that will add more value to your organization? Performing unique tasks that cannot easily be repeated will add value to your existence.
• In the future, can you learn to coexist with AI to stay relevant to your organization? AI, just like your computer, is a tool to be studied and utilized.
It’s not up to your manager to do the heavy lifting here. It’s completely up to you. It will require a creative imagination and a willingness to do work that is more meaningful to your organization.
Your value does not exist in the entry of numbers into a spreadsheet, nor in the writing of press releases, nor in the organizing of products in a warehouse. All of these actions can be automated, and eventually they will be.
Anyone can write a progress report on what has happened at work – how about what can or should happen at work? A sales organization already knows who they’re selling to – how about telling them who they’re not selling to and how to drive that new business? Through connected technologies, companies in just about every business sector are finding that they need fewer people to produce the same output – and those technologies are about to become much more robust. It’s time to strongly express your true human value and to build upon it.
AI will improve…eventually.
The current mad rush into generative AI is producing error-riddled results, which doesn’t bode well for industries hoping for a business transformation any time soon. The recent shortcomings of generative AI are amusing, if not a bit embarrassing. Even ChatGPT, a relatively refined chat bot, went berserk and spit out nonsensical messages for hours before being pulled offline.
But these are growing pains, not an indication of fundamental flaws. As AI developers get more sophisticated and the pressure to be first-to-market subsides, we will see useful business tools come to market that will make good on the promise of enhancing human productivity by directing people toward tasks better suited for a human than a machine.
When we reach that point, we had better be ready for it.