Irish organisations want to understand how this technology affects their business and workforce. They are looking for answers to key questions, such as:
How will Gen AI impact my workforce?
How and where should I apply Gen AI to generate maximum value?
What key risks do I need to address now?
The impacts of Gen AI on your workforce
Gen AI is expected to contribute $16 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Organisations that don’t act now risk falling behind their competitors, but capturing the opportunities hinges on your organisation’s ability to manage several impacts on your workforce.
Learning and development
Gen AI’s ability to engage in more complex work means knowledge workers must reimagine their roles and relationships with technology. For these workers, the content (what they work on) and the context (how they do it) of work will need to evolve. How these workers acquire capability – often through on-the-job learning – will also need to change as the technology assumes basic tasks that often serve as training grounds for employees.
Honing new-found productivity
According to our recent Global Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey, respondents’ most common sentiment towards AI was that it would increase their efficiency/productivity at work. As manual and routine cognitive tasks become automated and accelerated, and the output of a knowledge worker expands, it’s important to consider with your teams how you want to capture and reinvest these productivity-driven gains.
Risk mitigation
While much of the discussion around Gen AI focuses on its ability to bring richness and opportunities to organisations, these same capabilities can be easily weaponised to enable more sinister acts such as fraud, cyberattacks and the proliferation of fake content. As discussed below, educating your workforce to recognise, identify and mitigate against these risks will help future-proof your organisation from the dangers they pose.
How and where should I apply Gen AI for maximum value?
At this point, the technology is better viewed as a strong starting point for tasks rather than a total replacement for these tasks. When it is used alongside other intelligent automation technologies, Gen AI has the potential to add value to your organisation, particularly in high-volume and low-risk tasks. However, human intervention is still crucial to validate and modify content.
In approaching implementation, we encourage organisations to consider several core principles. They are trust by design, risk-based priorities and cautious adaptability.
Trust by design
Implement trust by design from the start rather than racing to close gaps later on. Whatever your company’s maturity level with Gen AI, it’s wise to put responsible AI front and centre in your design process.
Risk-based priorities
Adjust or establish escalation frameworks so that governance, compliance, risk, internal audit and AI teams give the greatest attention to the greatest risks.
Cautious adaptability
Begin with small-scale experiments and proofs-of-concept to evaluate feasibility and assess potential risks. Gradually scale up implementation as organisational readiness and understanding improve. This deliberate approach allows for careful observation, facilitates learning from mistakes and minimises unintended consequences.
What key risks do I need to address?
As your organisation assesses its approach to Gen AI, you’ll need to identify and adhere to responsible AI principles by addressing critical risks related to transparency, privacy and consent.
Cybersecurity risk
AI poses a much more pronounced risk from a cybersecurity perspective than its technological predecessors. Malicious attacks in the form of phishing, vishing and misinformation will be more sophisticated and harder to spot. Teach your employees the basics of how Gen AI works, when to use it – and when not to – and when and how to verify or modify inputs and outputs.
Legal risk
The legal landscape for Gen AI is evolving (and will continue to evolve) as the technology develops. Ensure your compliance and legal teams are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge of new and ongoing changes to the legal and regulatory environment and how these changes impact your organisation.
Reputational risk
The ability of Gen AI to produce biased content, ‘hallucinations’ (a confident response that is not factually accurate) and copyrighted content, all in your name, means this technology can pose a real reputational risk to you and your organisation.
Four key takeaways for your organisation
1. Consider your initial priority areas for Gen AI deployment
The race is on to deploy this technology in a way that drives meaningful business results, creates enriched customer interactions, accelerates decision-making or generates better content. Organisations have an immediate focus on customer interactions, but there are also opportunities in corporate functions such as HR and Finance. Beyond experimentation, a clear and prioritised plan of attack linked to your organisational and workforce strategy can help create a competitive edge in the market and improve your ability to achieve enhanced profitability.
2. Foster a culture that embraces Gen AI but that prioritises trust and quality
The new world of work, in which humans coexist with powerful automation, requires organisations to foster new mindsets and behaviours. Exhibit behaviours that promote broad adoption of emerging technology and encourage your leaders across the business to do the same. Reward curiosity and experimentation and foster the ability to balance risk-taking with risk management.
3. Plan for the impact Gen AI will have on your workforce strategy
Gen AI has the potential to disrupt the day-to-day tasks of large segments of your workforce. Very few organisations truly connect their technology roadmap with their workforce plan but given how interconnected these two elements will be in the future, an integrated plan will become a business imperative. Factor this into your overall workforce strategy and consider its knock-on impacts on areas such as learning and development, performance management, rewards, recruitment and onboarding.
4. Upskill and strategically redeploy displaced workers, now
Adopting Gen AI can allow your workers to become more strategic, but strategic capabilities take years to develop. If approached proactively, you can enhance your employee value proposition, allowing for more meaningful and strategic work while creating an advantage that will take your competitors years to match.
We are here to help you
At PwC Ireland, our purpose is to build trust in society and help organisations solve important problems. In addition to our expertise in privacy and security issues, as well as the ethical risks raised by Gen AI, we’ve built a diverse, global community of solvers ready to help organisations develop critical foundational technology capabilities. We can also help you navigate key strategic considerations for assessing business value and determining the right path forward for your business and workforce.
