Published in e-Souvenir published by SIRC 2nd Regional Conference of Corporate CS on Theme “Sustainable Corporate Governance” 1st and 2nd Dec 2023.
AI – Artificial Intelligence – the word of the year 2023!
The Collins Dictionary has chosen AI, or ‘Artificial Intelligence’, as its Word of the Year 2023. The dictionary describes AI as “the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs.” The AI market is projected to grow by nearly 800 per cent to around $1.8 trillion, according to the World Economic Forum.[i]
We all have heard about Chat GPT by now and few of you may be even using it regularly for some things. OpenAI, an AI and research company created ChatGPT and launched it on November 30, 2022. ChatGPT is an AI tool which is recognized as a language processing tool that allows you to have conversations similar to human intelligence driven conversations and uses the conversation ability in many helpful ways. The language model can answer many questions and assist you with daily tasks, such as drafting emails, writing paragraphs or even writing and correcting a software code. We are nearing its one-year anniversary and in such a short time it has become a buzzword and is being recognized tremendously for its capabilities. It’s the first an AI tool was made available in public domain for common usage and its profound ability was felt and recognized by public at large. We have been hearing from a longtime that AI would change everything, but it was the first time that the crazy potential of this tech was felt by all. No wonder that AI is selected as word of the year.
Not only chatbot, but there are also several other use cases of AI like automated content creation, animation or graphic creations, artwork, images creation etc which is already in use. AI is everywhere and is ready to take the world in its stride.
As per a recent report in ‘Fortune’, Bill Gates predicted and announced that the world will completely change in the next 5 years and within that time frame everyone will have a personal AI assistant working for them round the clock, which will completely change how we live. He claimed that software is dumb, but AI bots are smart and can predict your requirements even before you ask them.[ii] Emergence of new platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Bing, Google Bard and Elon Musk’s Grok validate the prediction made by Bill gates and probably we are at the brink of taking the next big leap in terms of technology in a way that is comparable to the advent of internet in the world some decades ago which changed everything for us.
When the penetration of AI is set to impact our daily lives in such a big way, how is possible that it will not change the way we work?
Future of work with AI
For Consultancy firms AI can save many skilled manhours by taking over tasks which are related to data analysis and simple admin jobs that are not billable. AI will free up important time which can be used for more skill enhancing activities. Many firms need language experts for perfecting their communications with outside jurisdictions who is not easily available in market for hiring in a low budget, but this kind of tech can do such things in minutes.
It will definitely involve some fundamental changes in the way we work as on date and bring some real transformation. People will require to upskill, and it might be difficult to get away without real value addition, but don’t most people strive for that? who wants to be doing low grade data entry kind of job which requires humans to be turned to machine without any real job satisfaction. What if the entry level employees and trainees start contributing to the organisation in better ways that add value to the organisation rather than wasting the starting years in doing meaningless mundane jobs, it will certainly improve quality of work and provide more opportunities to junior level staff also.
Value addition aspects of the CS professional as a contributor in an organisation:
Use of AI in the scope of work of a CS
While there are many areas where the role of a CS is of an individual contributor and where the personal knowledge and skill of the CS are utilised, there are many other areas which are more routine and boring in nature. There are tasks that are repetitive in nature, or which feel like a non-productive or simply time consuming but at the same time important and cannot be delegated to less experienced staff. This is where AI can pitch in and make an enormous difference. Bespoke usage of AI tech in the mundane activities which seem to be less satisfying as an individual contributor could be happily handled by an AI assistant without compromising on any other aspect.
Few areas that I can think of are:
- Increasing productivity by delegating task of preparing preliminary drafts by AI:
In house CS professionals or even practicing CS consultants often have to role to play in any important Board or committee meeting. Sometimes such meetings last for hours or even for a full day with discussion on various topics. The most daunting task delegated to a CS after these meetings conclude is to document the discussion and prepare minutes of the meeting that can be then preserved by the Company as a lifetime record. This task is seldom delegated by the seniors to juniors because of the confidential nature of the discussion taken up at the meeting and the quality expected. Imagine an AI bot coming to the rescue of the professional, who can actually listen to the recording and prepare a preliminary draft of the minutes based on the instructions fed to it. The AI could even highlight the portions which feel important or routine conversation in the draft prepared by it. The professional would review the draft and make changes. Does it sound easier already? Yes, it does because it would save hours for any professional and the task which appears to be a huge one can be handled in a few hours. And why only minutes there can be several drafts prepared by an AI bot based on instructions fed to it and the professionals can save time in preparing an initial draft which is often more time consuming. Productivity will highly go up for any professional and in turn save several super skilled man hours for the organisation.
- Data analysis and Research:
AI can even serve as a great tool in conducting various research on behalf of an organisation. Many times, decision making is based on a lot of data analysis like for considering new projects or for making milestone business decisions and often this kind of research is entrusted to the senior skilled people in an organisation which includes a CS. AI has a role to play when it comes to data analysis, it can analyse various data and prepare reports that the decision makers would find useful to rely on while making the decisions.
- Automating and standardizing of trainings:
All organisations need same type of routine trainings to be imparted to its staff who are at various levels of experience and learning in their career paths. Many trainings are conducted routinely and many times it’s the CS who is involved in conducting these trainings. e.g., POSH, information security, Data protection policy etc. Such trainings can at many levels be handled by AI which can not only conduct the training but also conduct tests after the trainings to evaluate the effectiveness of each such training sessions.
- Timely communications and Compliance calendar:
Once an AI bot is fed with the various compliance needs of an organisation, it can effectively act as a central point for mobilising all data collection from various departments and integrating the data to create a report and identify the gaps. Not only this, it may also study compliances undertaken within a time frame and trigger warnings where a particular piece of compliance jigsaw is found missing. There are endless possibilities in the way these systems can be devised but there is absolutely no doubt on the potential that this technology holds in terms of streamlining of activities where there is great deal of tracking and follow up required.
Is AI threat to the professionals?
There was a time in mid nineties when computers were the buzz word, and the world was gearing up to adopt it. There was a lot of hue and cry that time also and it was being said that slowly computers will take up all jobs and humans will be at a loss but now looking in retrospect it seems like a joke. We will all agree that our progress as a society has been phenomenal and a lot of credit should go to computers and internet. The world has come closer due to these advancements.
Same kind of curiosity is generated for AI in the present era, after being conversant with the numerous possibilities and ways in which AI can benefit the professional community there is certainly a doubt in the mind of people that this kind of tech might take away the job of professionals and eventually AI will replace humans on the job front. This is not a new argument, since the advent of a AI, this question has been staring in the face of the society but my personal view is that AI will actually enhance productivity of humans and give us professionals a chance to go beyond the mundane job and take up more research activities and in turn get more job satisfaction. No human talent will be wasted in doing non-productive and less satisfying jobs.
Steve Hasker, CEO and President of Thomson Reuters, said in a report published by Thomson Reuters in Aug 2023 titled ‘Future of Professionals’,
“Finally, it is becoming clear that AI-empowered professionals will outpace those who don’t take advantage of this era of transformation. However, before we allow ourselves to get swept up in the sensational headlines about bots automating professional jobs or entire industries being decimated at the hands of generative AI, the imperative is to look at the guardrails we have in place. This will be the true key to driving trust, encouraging adoption, and building on a steady foundation that lets users truly harness the opportunity. As professionals, building and using new technology responsibly must be the biggest investment we make.”[iii]
Yes there will be a need to adapt to the new tech and unlearn and relearn various things that has led us here, but eventually talent and skill will be more rewarded in the new scheme of things, and we would be able to work more efficiently and have a better quality of life and work life balance. Let’s sharpen our skills and be ready to adapt to new things and emerge as a victor who is not scared of changes but is the torchbearer of it.
[i] https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/ai-collins-dictionary-word-of-the-year-9026555/
[ii] https://fortune.com/2023/11/10/bill-gates-ai-personal-assistant-5-years/
[iii] https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/campaigns/future-of-professionals.html