As a result of our conversations around the good and bad side of AI, we decided to summarise our 3 top benefits and 3 top limitations.
What are the benefits of embracing AI?
1. Increased productivity
In a fast-paced world where most of us feel fatigued by our huge to-do lists and are always chasing a feeling of accomplishment – could AI be our new best friend?
Wherever you are in your career, there are always those small admin tasks that can bog you down and take away your valuable time. If AI could support you with these tasks that would be amazing right?
A new randomised controlled trial by Harvard and Stanford economists finds that ChatGPT can substantially boost productivity for professionals completing everyday writing tasks. They found that ChatGPT increases productivity by 40% for professionals doing common writing tasks but broader economic impacts remain unpredictable.
We’ve seen from our conversations with our Kineo colleagues and our LinkedIn community that Chat GPT can help with writer’s block or ‘starting out’ on certain tasks. We’ve all been there where we need to create a piece of content and somehow it’s been 17 minutes and the Word doc is still blank. Could AI save us from this kind of frustration?
2. A more bespoke learner experience
A huge part of AI is about automation and learning to better serve your audience. We are always talking about focusing on the individual learner and ensuring we are catering for different needs and different learning styles. The reality of this though is that many companies don’t have the time, capacity or budget to serve learners this way however much they want to. Could AI be the tool to finally help us embrace personalised learning?
We are already beginning to use AI in this way if you count rule-based decision-making as AI. Even in the world of marketing, ads are served to us as a result of interacting with certain websites or opening certain emails. Our online customer experiences are already becoming mega-tailored with respect to our behaviours and actions – so why shouldn’t our learning experience become this tailored?
3. Understanding trends and making improvements
There are many arguments out there about AI not being human and how that is its main downfall. However, the machine learning involved with some AI products is exceptional. This technology can help us spot trends in our learning data and ultimately improve our learning experiences and outcomes.
What are the 3 limitations to embracing AI?
1. The lack of the ‘human touch’
This is probably the biggest and most credible argument for how AI is limiting. In our information-obsessed world, we want to see originality, creativity and empathy more than ever.
Will AI ever be able to support us in the way our friends, colleagues or other professionals do?
There are certainly many jobs that will be untouched by AI for a long time. In the L&D world we will always need compassion, empathy and a focus on soft skills. AI can help us improve processes and save us time – but it’ll never replace a real conversation with a focus on listening, kindness and emotional intelligence.
2. Tools like Chat GPT aren’t always correct
At the moment, there’s no guarantee that everything we use these tools for is ‘correct’. We did a few tests within the team for the purpose of this article and whilst most results seem valid (and answers came from relevant websites), some results were completely made up.
This lack of credibility and ‘hallucinations’ adds uncertainty to using these tools in the workplace on a daily basis. It’s okay to use these tools as a starting point – but it doesn’t feel sensible to use these for every task or to rely on them too much. Right now, there’s a strong argument that for many tasks the human brain will be quicker and more reliable.
3. There are data and legal concerns
Whilst the developments in AI in recent months have been hugely impressive – there are big concerns about privacy, confidentiality and copyright. Tools like Chat GPT scrape their results from the internet like a live Wikipedia and there are concerns about the credibility of the information and plagiarism risks.
Further to this, there are currently no official regulations about the use of this kind of software. How can we ensure individuals are using the technology in a morally correct way? Or that the information they are inputting is not confidential? How can we ensure writers, researchers and scholars aren’t having their work edited or used incorrectly? There is a fairness concern but also a safety concern here that can’t be ignored.
Conclusion
As mentioned, in our recent article ‘Is ChatGPT good news for learning and development teams?’:
“We certainly don’t have all the answers. We don’t know right now if tools like ChatGPT will prove to be helpful or provide more challenges than they’re worth. However, we do think we should feel hopeful for the future”
This can be applied to all AI technology. The AI revolution is going to happen whether we’re onboard or not, so we need to be open to the benefits whilst being mindful of the drawbacks.
Change isn’t always easy – but often it’s for the best. As L&D professionals we can’t ignore these developments and we must keep learning and being open to changes.
Would you like to talk more about how you can use AI?
We are always here to have an open chat, share ideas or simply talk through your challenges. Get in touch with our friendly team today to discuss.
Download our guide to AI for L&D professionals to find out more.