Recently, the ascent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reached a level where discerning between hyperbole, myths, and tangible advancements poses a considerable challenge.
My immersion in the realm of AI occurred during my MBA at Warwick Business School, mainly through a Data Analytics for Decision Making course.
The experience was intriguing and propelled me to explore the multifaceted role of digital technologies on an international scale.
Attempting to define AI is akin to grasping the wind. However, researchers such as Duan et al. (2019) encapsulate its essence as the machine’s capability to learn, adapt to new inputs, and perform tasks paralleling human intelligence.
AI, now classified as a general-purpose technology, shares a transformative nature with historical technological advancements like the steam engine, electricity, and railroad.
The recent surge in AI’s popularity is primarily attributed to breakthroughs in Machine Learning, specifically its applications in text and speech analysis (Charlwood & Guenole, 2022; Jaiswal et al., 2021).
As exemplified by ChatGPT (Budhwar et al., 2023), Revolutionary innovations have catapulted AI into the mainstream, captivating the world’s attention.
Breaking down the intricate concept of AI into three core components – data, algorithms, and the cloud – provides a simplistic understanding and a profound insight into its workings.
To use the analogy of a meal preparation, data, likened to the ingredient, manifests in various forms such as text, numbers, images, and videos.
Algorithms, comprising Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and Computer Vision, act as the recipe, directing the machine’s actions.
The cloud, analogous to the energy required for cooking, provides the computational power necessary for data processing, ensuring scalability, cost efficiency, and security.
AI has three capabilities, including predicting the future based on historical patterns, making recommendations and personalising interactions.
While some people are skeptical about the negative impact or implication of AI, including the disruption in workforce and workplace design, unethical algorithm design, inequality social concerns, it is essential to state that there are many use cases of AI today, including virtual assistants, fraud detection, personalisation, and self-driving cars.
The disruptive impact of AI on the future of work and industries is not merely speculative but substantiated by research (Bughin et al., 2017; Østerlund et al., 2021). Its role in enhancing competitiveness underscores the imperative for integrating AI into business operations (Haefner et al., 2021). As pioneers in AI adoption, large enterprises emphasise its strategic significance in shaping business strategy (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2020; Ransbotham et al., 2017).
AI’s transformative nature gives businesses a colossal competitive advantage, heralding an era of innovation (von Krogh, Roberson, and Gruber, 2023; Rust & Huang, 2014).
Successive industrial eras mark the world we live in, and today is powered by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, popularly known as Industry 4.0, which has been characterised by technological evolution.
The change that AI is bringing is not incremental but transformational, hence the disruptive nature of the technology. Everything can and most likely will be impacted by digital technology.
As a result, technology has become an intricate and essential part of how we live, work and interact with customers, shareholders and employees, Brunetti et al., 2020).
Businesses should also be interested in AI because according to a Pwc report, AI could contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economies and increase GDP in local economies by up to 26% by 2030. It is therefore strategic to say that AI conversation should not be framed as just a technology conversation but as a business or economy conversation.
Hence, this should be an agenda item at every board meeting and developing an AI strategy should be the highest priority for every CEO and business executive.g
According to a Deloitte Centre for Integrated Research report, only digital businesses are adaptative in the 21st Century (Nanda et al., 2021); hence, investing in businesses in digital technology is no longer a nice to have but a critical business imperative.
Undoubtedly, technology adoption has many advantages, including improved efficiency, enhanced agility, and value creation for all stakeholders, which is why Accenture Research declared that all companies are technology businesses (Accenture Research, 2022; Buchanan et al., 2016).
In conclusion, the advent of AI is not a futuristic notion but an integral part of our present reality. Entrepreneurs and researchers alike must acknowledge and actively embrace AI’s strategic imperative to remain adaptive, competitive, and relevant in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Failure to do so is akin to bringing a knife to a gunfight or maintaining a typewriter mindset in a world driven by algorithms and data.
*Tunde-Success Osideko is an entrepreneur with a bias for AI
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I really want to gain knowledge on AI, Technology, Coding and any other skills that can enhance my life.