Generative AI: Promise or Peril?

Many people find it impossible to imagine how new technology is going to change the world and people are often frightened of things they don’t understand.

In many aspects, generative AI has triggered such a reaction. Over the past 12 months, we have watched large-language models (LLMs) become faster and better at everything from creativity and problem-solving to sentiment analysis and content generation. Knowledge workers know that change is on the horizon but to many people, the growing media buzz of generative AI has taken on the ominous rumbling of thunder.

Addressing a Skeptical Workforce

There’s no doubt that generative AI is going to reshape entire industries; that process is already underway in many sectors. History has taught us that companies that do not quickly adapt to transformative changes will get left behind.

Despite this fact, 64% of leaders surveyed in the 2024 IBM CEO Study said technologies are changing faster than employees can adapt. Just under two-thirds of respondents (61%) reported that they were trying to push their organizations to adopt generative AI faster than some people were comfortable with. For senior leaders, that fear of progress is a big problem.

Communication is Key

When it comes to generative AI, many employees’ biggest concern is that the machines are coming for their jobs. As new technology automates and accelerates business processes and tasks that were typically the exclusive preserve of human workers, people think that they will be supplanted and replaced. In their minds, generative AI is happening to them, rather than being a tool to help them.

Related:Why Spatial Intelligence is the Next Big Frontier in the AI Race

As leaders, we need to do a better job of communicating the benefits of progress to our teams. It’s not enough to simply keep repeating the mantra that the new technology will support, not replace, human employees—we need to help people re-imagine and experience how their work can get done with the help of generative AI. Furthermore, new job roles are emerging that can excite people—for instance, as AI prompt engineer, explainable AI specialist, or organizational psychologist.

The Other Side of the Coin: How to Channel the Enthusiasm of Generative AI Adopters

Equally, some employees are already using generative AI at work—with and at times without, the approval of their companies. Take coding: Developers all over the world are using generative AI tools to increase their productivity and improve the quality of their work.

Increasingly, employees expect access to generative AI at the workplace—just as it is becoming the norm in their personal lives. Leaders should channel this enthusiasm by providing access within corporate guardrails—and do it fast. Blocking employees’ access to generative AI tooling whilst designing an end-to-end strategy is a risky option. It would probably ensure compliance in the short term, but limiting access to new technologies may well drive employees elsewhere.

Related:Interpretable vs. Explainable AI: What’s the Difference?

Getting Employees on the Same Page

To get employees enthused about generative AI without opening the organization to unnecessary risk, it will be crucial to make investments in training. When people see just how much these new technologies are going to improve their jobs, the adoption of generative AI tools will climb.

For people to trust generative AI, it’s also vital to establish effective processes, policies and guardrails built into the solutions themselves. This is another area where leaders need to focus: 75% of CEO respondents said that fostering trust in AI within their organization would be impossible without effective governance, but only 39% felt they already had adequate governance frameworks within their organization.

Take the Next Step

The CEO study revealed that almost a quarter of organizations are currently doing nothing at all with generative AI. But with 49% of CEOs expecting to use it to drive growth over the next three years, it’s critical to ramp up efforts now.

At IBM, we’re driving change internally through platforms such as IBM Consulting Advantage. With a purpose-built, accessible and scalable AI toolset, our consultants are finding and creating their own AI assistants to deliver better results sooner. I’ve been blown away by seeing generative AI help innovative ideas flourish at every level of the organization, encouraging creativity without abandoning compliance. The time is ripe to reimagine the world of work through AI—we just need to do it thoughtfully.