Artificial intelligence didn’t write this, but we must embrace it

This article has not been written by artificial intelligence, though it has benefited from generative AI. My iPad predicts words or phrases that it thinks I’m about to use and helpfully (though often incorrectly) prompts me. Search engines personalise results and chatbots summarise complex articles, but what you’re reading is the result of human thinking and creativity.

Almost everything we do is in some way influenced by “GenAI”, or soon will be. Which is astonishing when you consider that the first public release of ChatGPT was less than two years ago, when it had only about a million users across the world. So it’s inevitable that there is such debate over the roles played by the technology in life and business, over how fakery can be fought and ethics protected, and over precisely how companies will be able to capitalise on its power.

In essence, GenAI generates text, speech, video, images, music and computer code. Conjoin that with the masses of data produced by each of us every day, and computers begin to “know” us.

So I was struck by comments made recently by Paul Singer, who runs Elliott Management in the US, one of the world’s largest activist investors. In a letter to clients, he called AI stocks a “bubble” waiting to burst and said that many uses of the technology are “never going to be cost-efficient, are never going to actually work right … or will prove to be untrustworthy”.

I’d love to invite Singer to one of our call centres to see just how effective, efficient and trusted AI is and can be. He needn’t travel far. In the US, a digital lead-generation business that I chair, eLocal, is using AI to review all credit requests from companies purchasing those leads.

It’s true that we don’t quite know how the technology will evolve, so we must be cautious about how we embrace it. But embrace it we must. Based on personal experience, the best way to do that is to deploy second-mover advantage. See what parallel businesses are using AI for and where it’s having a positive impact, and then emulate that success.

Understand which applications are effective and which aren’t ready for widespread use, and see who’s benefiting and who’s counting the costs of over-enthusiasm — and then ask why. Test AI tools internally, experiment and develop them so that they work for your customers and your ambitions.Perhaps first identify the problem or goal to which a technology is suited, rather than adopt it and then work out how to use it.

Private businesses trying to grow can ill-afford to spend management time and cash on unproven AI applications, so they need to evolve gradually rather than undergo sudden, wholesale transformations.

HomeServe is using AI together with our traditional call-centre teams, in the form of digital automated services and our voicebot, known as Hana. When customer solutions are simple or we’re inundated with calls during, for instance, extreme weather, Hana is incredibly fast and efficient, dealing with thousands of simple claims simultaneously. But customers always have the choice of Hana and human; when things are more complicated, the latter takes over. And because we record calls and monitor the data, we’re constantly assessing how we can use AI to make us even more innovative. The feedback has been brilliant because customers’ needs are being both fulfilled and predicted, and they’re spending less time online or on the phone.

One of my private investments, Passenger Clothing, is looking at using AI to predict which product customers will purchase after the one they’ve just bought, and to proactively present it, helping to increase customer purchases and lifetime value.

Instead of focusing on the phrase “artificial intelligence”, think innovation — how can this technology make us more innovative?

We can’t just dismiss AI as a “bubble”. When the next iPhone comes out — version 16 — it will have AI embedded within it and we’ll see even more profound changes in the way we interact with the product and each other.

So surround yourself with tech-savvy individuals who know what you don’t. Chief technology officers should be at the heart of strategic plans. Most importantly, leaders must acknowledge their wider responsibility and put in place upskilling and re-skilling programmes. Keep building that talent internally, while finding mentors, role models and suppliers who can provide you with expert guidance.

Clearly identify where AI can have the best impact in securing your business goals, and then outline a roadmap for implementation. And always ensure that safety, privacy, security and transparency underpin all your AI activity; humans still need to be involved in AI decision-making.

Am I worried about the human consequences of AI applications? Absolutely not. If we can use artificial intelligence to speed up the way in which management teams analyse data and create reports, for instance, they will have more time to focus on other aspects of the job.

Equally, if AI is going to have an impact on their jobs, we can re-skill teams to take on new roles within a company. And, as leaders, we must also help them make the transition into other careers, fulfilling personal ambitions that require different skills.

The economy would benefit from this, too, if people in AI-disrupted sectors moved to other jobs with labour shortages. Call-centre staff might be encouraged to move into hospitality or healthcare, while the construction industry is crying out for new recruits to learn the skills that will be needed to hit the government’s target of building 1.5 million new homes. Currently, there are already about 50,000 unfilled vacancies.

Development programmes should be championed at every level of an organisation so people can grasp potential new careers. We will adapt in this technological revolution as we did in the industrial one. With that in mind, I just typed into ChatGPT: “Are we all doomed if ChatGPT takes over?” Its answer? “While there are risks associated with the rise of AI, we are not necessarily ‘doomed’. By proactively addressing the challenges and leveraging the benefits of AI, society can work towards a future where technology serves the common good and enhances human well-being.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Richard Harpin is founder and chairman of HomeServe and Growth Partner,and owner of Business Leader magazine