Setting the foundations for an AI driven culture

AI is rapidly reshaping our world, and while headlines often focus on the prospect of job obsolescence and the possibility of sentient AI, the impact on most industries and organisations is unfolding at a more gradual pace.

This is why now is the time for leaders to set the foundations for this AI driven future. 

These foundations will be essential to navigate this new world, in which generative AI is expected to add US $4.4 trillion to the global economy in productivity gains. 

This year has already been a boom for the sector with venture capitalists investing $15.2 billion into generative AI companies globally. 

Notably, French startup Mistral raised more than US$118 million without a working product and just this week Amazon pledged to invest up to $4 billion in generative AI startup Anthropic.

So what does this mean? 

A recent McKinsey report The State of AI in 2023: Generative AI’s Breakout Year shone a light on the issues from the top. While 40 per cent of companies were using generative AI alone, just 21 per cent of respondents using AI had developed policies to govern employees use of it.

To use ChatGPT as an example, leaders must understand how and why employees might be using this new tool. Built into an employee tool kit it has the potential to make them more productive and free up time to focus on meaningful outcomes. 

All that is to say that it is people as much as the technology that will guide the culture and future uses of AI in the workplace.

So what can leaders do now?

1. Accept AI takes time and risk

Executives and boards must first be willing to accept the inherent risks and the time it takes to see substantial returns on investment (ROI). 

Unlike traditional plug and play business strategies, AI does not always yield immediate results. 

AI projects are long-term commitments which involve research, development, testing, and fine-tuning. As with any new technology, there is an inherent risk in AI projects, as not all of them will succeed or meet the expectations right from the start. 

It is essential to embrace this risk and be prepared to learn from failures. 

1. Stay curious and educate themselves

As we wrote about last week LINK, leaders must first educate themselves to understand first what is possible with AI, how they can personally benefit from it and how to speak the language to enact change.

While AI is often looked at from a technical standpoint, it is people who will drive it.  Learning to work with AI will not be a single training exercise, so from an organisational culture perspective, leaders should be transparent on their own continuous learning journey and encourage their teams to be curious, rather than fearful, of the change AI can bring. 

With curiosity as their key motivator, teams will be free to experiment and rethink how these tools could improve their processes and productivity. 

1. Redefine ways of working

Becoming AI-driven also requires organisations to rethink their ways of working and organisational structure. 

For leaders this necessitates a shift in the traditional hierarchical structures and decision-making processes creating cross-functional teams that bring together experts from various disciplines, including data science, engineering, and domain-specific expertise. 

These teams should work collaboratively to solve complex business challenges with AI-driven solutions. Furthermore, organizations need to establish clear governance frameworks for AI projects to ensure ethical and responsible AI development and deployment.

1. Embrace failure and iterate

Experiment, fail and then experiment again. To mitigate the risks of AI projects and navigate the timeline of change, businesses will need to adopt a more iterative approach. 

Instead of attempting to develop a perfect AI solution from the outset, which would require a huge time and financial investment, it is often more effective to start with a minimum viable product (MVP) and refine it through ongoing iterations.

Iterative development not only speeds up the learning process but also ensures that the AI solution aligns with the evolving needs of the organisation and its customers.

Setting these foundations for an AI-driven culture will take education, training and a shift in mindset from leaders and their teams. 

The pay-off will be the potential to revolutionise business and industries, with the culture shift going beyond the technology itself. 

Organisations willing to lay this groundwork today will be the leaders of the future.