Many organizations are moving quickly to formulate generative AI strategies, but some business leaders still have concerns about potential negative effects, including the possibility that more reliance on generative AI could translate to less innovation by human employees.
According to a survey of 405 business professionals holding titles at director level or above within organizations of more than 1,000 workers, 81% say their company already has established or implemented policies/strategies around generative AI or are currently in the process of doing so. The data comes from a survey commissioned by digital transformation solutions integrator Insight Enterprises and conducted by Harris Polls.
Overall, the survey results shed light on how organizations are thinking about generative AI, and how they want to adopt the technology in a way that can benefit them, but without making their businesses over-reliant on generative AI or exposed to risks associated with a technology that is not yet fully understood, according to Insight global CTO Matt Jackson.
Jackson stated in a report discussing the survey results, “The executives I speak with are asking how they can adopt this technology without employees becoming overly dependent on it. They’re asking which jobs will be replaced by generative AI and wondering if they’ve reached peak employment. They’re curious about how to leverage it to connect with customers, drive product innovation and promote revenue growth. More than anything, they’re asking how quickly they can access generative AI without exposing their organizations to security breaches.”
Generative AI was not much of a factor for many organizations just a year ago, but it is becoming clear that business leaders now view it as a potentially disruptive technology. About 72% of those surveyed said they expect to adopt generative AI to make employees more productive, with 66% saying they want the technology to help them enhance customer service. About 53% said they expect to use the technology to assist with research and development, and about 50% said it could provide benefits in software development and testing.
Overall, 90% of professionals surveyed believe specific job roles will be impacted by the adoption of generative AI, including, data analyst/data scientist, which at 44% topped the list of jobs that could be affected. Other jobs that survey respondents believe could be impacted by generative AI adoption include software developer (37%), software tester (37%), financial operations (32%) and communications (30%). (As noted in another recent Fierce Electronics story, even ChatGPT is not entirely sure about the impact it could have on jobs occupied by humans.)
Those surveyed also have some concerns about potential negative effects resulting from generative AI adoption, with 51% of those surveyed concerned about a negative impact on quality and control within their organizations, and 49% concerned about safety and security risks. Also intriguing is the finding that 39% of respondents are concerned generative AI adoption could limit human innovation. That result may show just how uncertain business leaders are about how generative AI could change things for their organizations.
On a more practical level, 39% of those surveyed expressed concerns about cost of implementation and budgetary constraints, and 35% displayed concerns about legal and regulatory compliance. Another 38% have concerns about human error due to a lack of understanding of how to use the tool, or accidental breaches of their organization’s data.