Food for thought for business leaders, because AI is here whether we like it or not
THE artificial intelligence (AI) industry has had an explosive few months since new AI-based tools like ChatGPT hit the market.
Developments in generative AI are coming in fast and redefining how we accumulate, organise, and disseminate knowledge-based information.
Whether the world is ready for it or not, AI is already here at scale and has become a truly democratic force for leaders to seek ways to extend the benefits of its capabilities across enterprises.
How generative AI is transforming the workforce in SEA
As companies across various industries increasingly rely on technology to drive growth, the value of tech talent has never been higher. Insights from Microsoft’s 2023 Work Trend Index suggest that employees across Asia-Pacific view AI with optimism, with 78 per cent willing to assign as much work as possible to AI to reduce their workloads.
Recent studies indicate that by 2030, AI technologies are expected to contribute up to US$1 trillion to the South-east Asian economy, with 33.6 per cent of that coming from Indonesia. This is a testament to the potential that AI holds in shaping the region’s future.
Looking more broadly at Apac, three out of four people polled in Microsoft’s Work Trend Index say that they would be comfortable using AI not just for administrative but also analytical tasks, and even some creative aspects of their work. Furthermore, Apac business leaders are nearly twice as likely to say that AI would be most valuable in their workplace by enhancing productivity rather than reducing the workforce.
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It is apparent that AI is being embraced as digitisation continues to spread across the region. However, the demand for digital skills at all levels will also continue growing just as fast, resulting in a widening skills gap impacting employers and the growth of the economy.
AI and our relationship with time, quality, and output
Just like the pandemic evolved the way we work, generative AI also has its place in how it will augment job roles. The need for better training and reskilling is only growing more acute. We’ll be forced to focus on skills in high demand that are difficult for AI to replicate such as critical thinking, complex problem-solving, creativity and emotional intelligence.
The ability to diagnose problems more quickly won’t replace expertise; while AI can identify problems, humans still need to correct them.
The proliferation of AI is already increasing the demand for jobs including data analysts and scientists. According to the World Economic Forum’s The Future of Jobs Report 2023, AI and machine learning specialists are the fastest-growing job fields.
In this next phase of transformation, AI will accelerate existing roles in terms of productivity and also create new roles around AI adoption and use.
This will allow a broader spectrum of people to get into the development process. With so many developers in the Apac region, I look forward to this trend really driving innovation.
The tech operations sector is an industry moving quickly to integrate hybrid human/AI models that offer exciting possibilities for the future of work.
With generative AI, I predict we will see an explosion of new software developed in a completely different way.
One of the immediate areas AI assistants have enhanced is observability – the practice of proactively collecting, visualising, and applying intelligence from all metrics, events, logs, and traces to better understand the behaviour of complex digital systems.
Simply put, it is how well a team understands the current state of a system from the data it generates.
With generative AI integrated into the platform, engineering teams will be able to ask straightforward questions using a familiar chat interface that responds with in-depth analysis, insights on root causes, and suggested fixes.
All engineers – from developers to operations, security, product, support, and QA (quality assurance) teams – will be able to fix issues faster, reduce outages, and increase development velocity and innovation with this technology.
How can business leaders responsibly tackle this change?
The most urgent opportunity for every leader is to comprehend how to use AI to its full potential.
It can help engineers write code more efficiently, potentially paving the way for a future that allows software engineers to concentrate on instructing AI tools to write code.
Customer support staff are using it to aid in troubleshooting and to answer common questions or analyse themes. Marketers can use it to write copy. The possibilities are endless.
Organisations need to understand that AI is going to impact employees in a multitude of ways and should strive to become more human-centric and values-based. Business leaders in an AI environment should:
- Embrace AI as a tool to help make informed decisions and improve operations, while making sure it does not replace human judgment and creativity.
- Empower their teams to experiment with new ideas and technologies to find innovative solutions to business problems.
- Provide opportunities for training and upskilling to help employees stay up to date with the latest AI technologies and practices.
- Invest in AI education and providing opportunities for employees
Employees that get increasingly fluent with AI tools will find themselves at a distinct advantage in the workplace. Those who are resistant, unwilling, or incapable of adapting risk their skills becoming obsolete.
It’s important, therefore, for business leaders to encourage employees to expand their knowledge base and work with AI to excel in their roles, and stay productive and relevant in a changing workforce.
If used responsibly and inclusively, AI allows us to tap into its ability to develop products at a greater level of sophistication.
As AI technology continues to evolve, improve, and be more broadly deployed, it will be exciting to see how it elevates current standards to generate new and previously inconceivable things. We will have more time and energy to do what we are really supposed to be doing: being original thinkers and innovators.
The writer is vice-president of customer adoption for Asia-Pacific and Japan at New Relic
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