(This blog addresses the Uganda context that is also similar to many countries that are still working within the technology-arid land)
There is a lot of hype around artificial intelligence (AI), itself not a new concept because it has been around since 1956 when the need to explore “the possibility of creating machines that could simulate aspects of human intelligence” was mooted by John McCarthy and others.
The hype is, however, founded on reality: the fact that AI in its most prominent current evolution is a major disrupter, a double-edged sword that comes with both opportunities and challenges. Many organisations are aware of this, and some are excited about it, but face the challenge that there are heavy mists around the what, why, when, and how regarding AI.
My objective in this blog and the one that will follow is to provide strategic insights for organisational and business leaders so that they can appreciate the critical importance of their being at the centre of harnessing AI.
What AI?
Let us start by putting artificial intelligence into context. Your human brain’s computational power is estimated to be about the same as the performance of the world’s largest super-computer. Like a powerful engine, everything in your brain is always running, but not necessarily at full output. The really amazing thing is that the
human brain is estimated to use only about a millionth of the power of a supercomputer.
Indeed, one of the most enduring challenges of AI is that it demands mega-investments in power production, along with the major risk of environmental degradation if this is not handled with an eye on environmental sustainability (something incidentally that has opened up a huge market for green energy).
Advancements in artificial intelligence, particularly in the way it functions, have indeed been inspired by the human brain’s structure and function. That said, such systems are still far from replicating the full capabilities of the human brain.
Where AI processing power beats the human brain is the ability to gather available knowledge resident on the internet, rapidly identify often hidden patterns, correlations, causal links, and nuances literally in seconds. AI can similarly rapidly analyse data sets in any subject area. Anyone and everyone needs this boost in efficiency.
And the current hype? It is the large language models that are used to train generative AIs, enabling anyone to have a conversation with them (Ais) using written, audio, and visual formats, that brought AI out of the Backrooms into general usage.
Why AI?
The business side answer is that AI, boosts productivity, drives innovation, and guides strategic decision. At the individual level, there is a more personal “why”, and there is a quote that is attributed to two different people (you can find these online) that puts this in stark reality: “AI will not replace humans, but those who use AI will replace those who don’t.”
This is really no different from any phase of history: those who acquire the skills relevant to the technological advances of their times have always replaced those who do not. This is really a Darwinian truism – “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change”
Similarly, organisations that can effectively harness AI will outcompete those that do not. Just like digitalisation almost three decades ago, AI is now a do-or-die option. The fact that AI has become a game-changer in all areas of human endeavour, places boards and C-Suites of organisations centre-stage to harness it (AI) to supercharge the achievement of organisational goals.
No one, and no organisation should ever be locked in place by HOW they do whatever it is that they do – rather, there is a need to focus on WHY they do what they do and let the HOW evolve or totally change to accelerate achievement of goals. Any organisation that is stuck on how they do what they do, rather than why they do what they do, is a dying organisation.
(To be continued with the HOW and WHEN. Check-in in a few weeks).