Hey Exec: Are you Paying Attention to Artificial Intelligence in 2023?

2023 is the year of Artificial Intelligence (AI). It doesn’t matter where you are in the corporate ladder, you need to be paying careful attention to this technology now!

Why? To scale your resources and leverage breakthroughs, such as ChatGPT (an AI assistant), especially in a year like 2023 where organizations are scaling back because of the economic downturn. If you don’t, you’ll be left behind as your competition gets ahead, way ahead!

Investing in your AI infrastructure will be a springboard to you being able to unlock capabilities within your organization. As you build your AI foundations, pay careful attention that you do so responsibly. What does that mean?

Your AI needs to be developed in a way that is ethical and benefits people and society. More specifically, be prudent in taking the necessary steps that ensure that your systems:

  1. Do not discriminate against people because of their backgrounds
  2. Explain to your users how decisions are being made and why
  3. Respect people’s privacy and personal data
  4. Function consistently in the face of unexpected inputs and consider unintended consequences
  5. Are governed by policies that maximize benefit and curb negative impact

Can you develop your AI infrastructure without investing in the five areas above? Yes, AND you’ll be opening yourself up to lawsuits from your users and regulatory bodies. Moreover, instead of unlocking potential you’ll be firefighting and sapping org. resources because you didn’t invest the time or effort to be build the right AI infrastructure. At that point in time, it won’t matter how many patches you put on your wound, it will continue to bleed profusely.

So why is 2023 so special for AI? OpenAI released ChatGPT late last year and this AI assistant will revolutionize the way businesses operate and people interact with AI systems. How?

Here are a number of ways ChatGPT can be used:

  1. Chatbot – can answer customer service questions
  2. Idea generator – can provide new material based on data it is fed
  3. Task supporter – can generate tables, write code, etc.
  4. Recommendation system – can provide recommendations on things to read, watch, buy etc.
  5. Translation tool – can help businesses and people translate material (think google translate)
  6. Information provider – can answer any questions you have
  7. Conversational partner – can engage with you in a conversation on any topic
  8. Learning tool – can teach you about any topic
  9. Writing tool – can generate original content in the form of posts or essays

How powerful is this tool for your organization? Extremely! The most powerful thing about it is that it takes context into account. In other words, it remembers what you asked it earlier and can personalize advice and recommendations in light of your conversation with it. Companies invest a ton of money to get a signal to personalize content (or ads) to their users, well, ChatGPT will become one of the strongest contenders in this race! As opposed to providing a data dump such as one generated by a search engine, ChatGPT can provide a well-crafted and detailed argument. Ask it why technology benefits or harms society and it will give you an argument for and against it. Companies are starting to feel a pinch in the face of ChatGPT because it is a threat to their business and how they operate. It will be interesting to see how things unfold over the course of the year!

In closing, wherever you are in the corporate ladder, pay attention to AI this year, and build your infrastructure responsibly. You’ll be thankful you did!

 

Karim Ginena, PhD
Senior UX Researcher, Meta AI