Advice on Generative AI: You Have a Responsibility to Know Just Enough!
After trying to stay on top of updates in the space for some time now, and wrapping up an executive education course with MIT, “Applied Generative AI for Digital Transformation,” there are 5 truths that come to mind about digital transformation with generative AI.
First, a lot remains unanswered. The technology is learning quickly and in turn that’s expanding business use cases, but companies (and even the experts) are still working to answer questions and find best practices, while the technology speeds forward.
People need to be there. Yes, governments, steering committees, C-suites, and tech companies continue to confer in order to sort through what guidelines or regulations need to be in place to see best practices come from generative AI innovations. But what needs to be present every day, right now, are human brains - while engineers have been leaning into generative AI tools like GitHub Copilot for some time and digital marketers are asking ChatGPT for captions and email copy, what remains clear is that human discernment of the AI output – reviewing, editing, and understanding the context and sourcing that’s been provided – is vital! It’s a massively helpful tool, not a human replacement.
Ethical guidelines need to be provided to teams. Assuming that staff will use generative AI with best intentions is a great start to build from, yet not enough. Reiterating the legal ramifications of, for instance, copyright and trademark infringement, is important, but so is reinforcing company values in this context, and then outlining expectations around reviewing the outputs from generative AI; for instance:
providing concrete examples of what to be cautious of, especially in the context of your industry/company;
how to discern what items are proprietary company information inputs that should be kept confidential (since anything used to prompt generative AI is then, essentially, in the public realm);
understanding the generative AI output - where is it sourcing from, how can it be edited to be more aligned with company standards, and empowering team members to remember they are the experts and have the final call; and also
how and where to get answers within the company structure for questions that arise when there’s uncertainty on an output from generative AI (or a prompt input for that matter).
These guidelines wont be a perfect science because generative AI tools are evolving as you read this, but some ethical framework is necessary, now.
Encouraging team members to use it and become more comfortable with generative AI tools (even just ChatGPT and simple Chrome extensions) will elevate the inner workings around this digital transformation in an organization because it will help teams embrace the basics of what it is. Even though they might not “have to” use AI now, most everyday programs even for non-technical teams are integrating AI or “smart” features such as Canva and Hootsuite, or even project management systems like Notion.
Even more important is that executive leadership steps up to the plate to understand just enough about:
how AI is impacting company service lines (from supply chain to customer insights)
where it is already at play in the organization’s products, services, and/or daily task management systems
low-risk ways that staff is starting to experiment with generative AI to support daily work flows, and ensuring that they’re acting in a responsible way, and
new possible business application ideas for generative AI (or at least be open to a conversation about ideas from team members)
Since generative AI is changing the way we all work, leaning solely on the tech team and Chief Information Officer (CIO) is not appropriate at this stage in the game. Garnering basics – not becoming the next generative AI guru, just the basics – to understand business implications and the ability to have productive conversations with internal tech executives, is crucial. It’s not just up to tech teams and CIOs alone to ideate and integrate.
At the end of the day, this technological innovation is moving at lightning speed, but it’s not always correct, so be cautiously optimistic, have a growth mindset approach, which means actively learning and making connections about how generative AI can fit, and be adaptable to embrace even more change that is coming.
At EnticEdge, we’re encouraging our clients to prompt ChatGPT with approved in-market messaging from their EnticEdge Cornerpiece® so that any output is aligned with approved, value-focused, strategic messaging! Learn more at enticedge.com/cornerpiece.