As organizations navigate the digital age, artificial intelligence (AI) will revolutionize various aspects of our work lives, including the way we work. In this post, we explore two types of AI experiences - Generative AI and Curated AI - and discuss which job roles can benefit from each.
Generative AI:
Unleashing Creativity and Innovation
Generative AI, as the name suggests, generates new content from scratch. It’s like having a creative assistant who can write proposals, respond to emails, design graphics, compose music, and more. ChatGPT and Copilot for Microsoft 365 are examples of this. The ultimate challenge will be identifying the key roles that can truly benefit from and maximize this capability.
“A new study on the impact of generative AI on highly skilled workers finds that when artificial intelligence is used within the boundary of its capabilities, it can improve a worker’s performance by as much as 40% compared with workers who don’t use it.” MIT Sloan School of Management
Who Benefits?
- Content Creators and Marketers: Generative AI can help brainstorm ideas, draft content, and design promotional materials. It’s like having an extra creative mind on the team.
- Sales Executives: Create personalized sales recommendations based on customer data and automate sales report generation.
- Business and Financial Analysts: These tools also enable analysts to simulate various market conditions, optimize investment portfolios, and assess potential risks, enhancing decision-making processes and forecasting accuracy.
- Researchers and Analysts: Generative AI can help generate hypotheses, design experiments, and even write reports. It can significantly speed up the research process.
- (BONUS) Meetings: Generative AI is now available for many online meeting applications. This allows you to query the discussion in real-time or seek specific insights after the meeting has ended.
Driving Proficiency
It's important to use Generative AI regularly to get the most benefit. Frequent use drives an understanding of AI’s capabilities and limitations and the most effective ways to prompt the query to generate the desired results.
Use Case: Content Creation
To kickstart any new blog post or communication, my go-to tools are ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot. In fact, this very article was crafted using the power of Generative AI. Let me walk you through the process I used to initiate the creation of this draft:
1. First, create a lengthy and highly descriptive prompt of what you are looking for, using 3 to 4 sentences.
2. Next, copy/paste that prompt into Copilot or ChatGPT (sometimes both).
3. Last, modify the prompt to refine the tone and edit for accuracy.
This process may sound like a lot of work, but it can typically take as little as 10 minutes. In fact, I am spending more time writing this paragraph than it took me to generate the first draft of this article!
Curated AI:
Quick Access to Reliable Information
Curated AI, on the other hand, is designed to provide quick and reliable answers to specific questions, often in the form of a chatbot. It’s like having a knowledgeable assistant that always has the right information at its fingertips. The challenge here is that you will need to in-source or out-source the development of the chatbot. This is not an out-of-the-box experience like Generative AI can be.
“It’s fascinating that people are more excited about AI rescuing them from burnout than they are worried about it eliminating their jobs.” Adam Grant, author and organizational psychology professor
Who Benefits?
- Frontline Workers: Whether it's a customer service representative looking up product information or sales representative looking up client history, Curated AI can provide the needed information quickly and accurately.
- New Hire Onboarding: Provide adaptive training modules and 24/7 access to resources and guidance at their own pace.
- Managers and Executives: Curated AI can provide quick insights into business performance, market trends, and more. It can be a valuable tool for decision-making.
- Educators and Students: Curated AI can provide explanations, examples, and resources for a wide range of topics. It can be a valuable tool for teaching and learning.
Ensuring Reliability
To ensure the reliability of Curated AI, it’s important to use trusted sources of information and regularly update the AI’s knowledge base. It’s also crucial to verify the AI’s answers against other sources, especially when making important decisions based on its output.
Use Case: Microsoft Teams Chatbot
Systems Engineering developed a Teams chatbot using Microsoft Copilot Studio to streamline and enhance interdepartmental communications. This internal chatbot efficiently accesses specific datasets to retrieve the requested information, ensuring thorough and prompt responses. We also included the use of smart forms to guarantee the completeness of the information requested. While Copilot Studio is considered user-friendly with its "low-code" design, some programming proficiency is beneficial to fully leverage its capabilities.
Conclusion
As organizations continue to embrace digital transformation, the strategic deployment of both Generative and Curated AI will be crucial in redefining job roles and enhancing productivity. Generative AI fosters creativity and innovation, offering unprecedented support for content creators, marketers, sales executives, and researchers. Meanwhile, Curated AI provides quick access to reliable information, benefitting frontline workers, managers, educators, and new hires. By leveraging the unique strengths of each AI type and integrating them effectively into daily workflows, organizations can unlock new levels of efficiency, drive innovation, and maintain a competitive edge in an ever-evolving digital landscape. The future of work is here, and it’s powered by AI.
Mark Benton is the Director of Product Management at Systems Engineering with 30+ years of experience in Information Technology. Mark is responsible for overseeing the onboarding of new products and services for Systems Engineering and its clients.
