July 16th is AI Appreciation Day. This annual celebration is the perfect time to highlight remarkable advancements in the AI landscape and spark conversations around AI ethics.
Since its inception, AI has been surprising us through various achievements. From self-driving features in cars to voice and text recognition tools, and automation in our day-to-day work, AI has brought significant changes in every aspect of our lives.
Today is the era of generative AI, also known as GenAI. It’s a branch of artificial intelligence that has the ability to generate different forms of content like text, images, and audio. Despite having its origin in the 1960s, generative AI saw a big leap forward in 2022, with the launch of ChatGPT – a chatbot that generates human-like conversation.
How is generative AI transforming businesses?
According to a recent McKinsey report, generative AI tools have the potential to automate work activities that consume 60-70 percent of employees’ time. Additionally, customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and Research and Development (R&D) are the four main business areas where generative artificial intelligence is employed most extensively. For example, it effectively supports customers interactions, generates creative and productive content for sales and marketing employees, and develops computer code based on prompts for software engineers.
When it comes to different sectors such as healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and retail, the impact of generative AI is quite remarkable. In the healthcare sector, GenAI is useful for analysing images and helping doctors make diagnoses. In the finance industry, the use of GenAI tools is expected to increase productivity growth by 1.5%, according to Goldman Sachs’ research. Its ability to deal with vast amount of data, generate accurate results, automate routine tasks, enhance risk mitigation, and optimise financial operations, makes it one of the valuable assets in the finance sector.
In the manufacturing world, companies use generative AI tools to predict the maintenance needs of equipment, enhance supply chain management, and optimise production process. It enhances productivity, minimises expenses, and improves customer satisfaction. And last but not least, generative AI allows retailers to optimise their inventory management system. Also, by recommending products to customers based on their purchase history and browsing behaviour, it helps retailers to create personalised and enhanced customer experiences.
Generative AI has huge potential to transform each part of business, across all processes, and every sector, leading to better productivity, efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
What are the ethical implications around generative AI?
While the perks of GenAI are impressive, its ethical implications and challenges are something we should take very seriously. Companies must know these ethical implications around GenAI and best practices for mitigation before its effective adoption.
- Fake content and misinformation: From the creation of synthetic news reports to manipulated videos, generative AI is capable of developing content that blurs the line between reality and falsehood. These content can deform public perception, ignite fake publicity, and extensively impact individuals and organisations’ reputation.
- Bias and discrimination: GenAI models are trained using datasets collected from various sources. Also, these models exactly copy data they’re fed. So, if they are trained using biased data, they will eventually deliver biased results, which ultimately, can lead to public rage, legal repercussions, and brand damage.
- Copyright breach: Generative AI tools have the ability to generate content (such as text, images, or audio) that mirrors content material already available on the website. This can lead to copyright infringement and significant legal consequences. Moreover, the infringement of intellectual property can result in costly legal battles and poor brand reputation.
- Data privacy violation: One of the biggest concern of using GenAI models is the violation of data privacy. Since GenAI models are trained using data sets, it may contain personal information, which if not protected, can lead to severe privacy breach. This can cause significant harm to individuals, resulting in loss of customers trust in the company.
- Workforce replacement: Generative AI has the potential to accelerate task completion with high accuracy and efficiency. At the same time, this ability causes fear among employees that it may replace them and take their jobs.
How to address ethical implications around GenAI?
So, what’s the solution? How can we address the ethical implications and challenges around generative AI while making the most of the opportunities it creates? The answer is to implement responsible AI.
Responsible AI refers to the development and deployment of AI in a manner that aligns with ethical principles and complies with legal standards. It ensures that the technology serves its intended purpose without causing harm or discriminating against any individual or group.
Governments and companies worldwide have made significant progress in establishing regulatory frameworks for responsible AI development. For example, the EU AI Act is the world's first dedicated law on AI, aiming to ensure safe and lawful AI use while upholding fundamental rights. Likewise, the US Federal Government's Office of Science and Technology Policy has issued AI principles for federal agencies to follow during AI technology development and deployment.
So, how should businesses respond in light of these regulations? Companies must proactively accept the above regulations and establish responsible AI governance that align with their values and business objectives. Additionally, they need to acknowledge the fact that AI is not the only plug-and-play solution. It’s here to augment human abilities and support your employees to make their work faster and more efficient.
How OneAdvanced is celebrating AI Appreciation Day?
At OneAdvanced, we are at the early stages of our journey in embracing AI technology. Our approach is informed by best practices in ethics, transparency, and accountability and inspired by our customers and the value it can add for them. We prioritise not only the innovation AI can bring but also the trust and confidence our customers place in us to deploy AI responsibly.
Helen Frost-Symmonds, Vice President of Platform at OneAdvanced stated, “I am delighted to celebrate AI Appreciation Day. This is a fantastic opportunity to reflect on the transformative impact of responsible AI in the industries we serve. By adopting responsible AI, OneAdvanced is enhancing efficiency and innovation while ensuring that these technologies are developed and deployed ethically, fairly, and beneficially for all stakeholders. Let’s continue to drive progress and make a positive impact with AI!”
Want to know more about what’s happening in the world of AI and machine learning on this special occasion? Read “In conversation with… Mridul Balaraman, Lead Architect – Data and AI” and gain the industry insights from our AI expert.