Event review by Yope Vagenas
Our August event with Tiffany Gray on Generative AI At Work was truly mind-blowing! Many of us had some limited knowledge or experience of AI and what it could do. I think it’s fair to say that thanks to Tiffany’s super informative presentation and expert guidance, we all walked away much more informed and feeling more confident to explore using AI in our work.
Tiffany’s work and the session she ran for us focuses on Generative Artificial Intelligence, a form of AI which generates new material (e.g. text, images, music) based on patterns it has learned from existing data on the internet. AI is moving and developing very quickly. It will bring significant change and revolutionise the way we work, perhaps to the same degree if not more than the internet. It was incredible to see some of the platforms and capabilities Tiffany has developed in just two years, and especially over the past six months, where AI is ‘exploding’.
Although Australia is behind other nations, AI is still moving very quickly for us too. Tiffany explained that right now we are at the level of Chatbots Level 1 AI with conversational language. It is predicted that higher levels of GEN AI will be aiding innovation and invention and eventually doing the work of an organisation.
We discussed the concerns arising about AI as the technology leaps ahead much faster than our grasp of and responses to social implications, governance, privacy, environmental issues and others. For instance, AI develops content from the internet so it will contain whatever biases the internet source may carry. Deepfakes are getting much better and harder to detect. IP issues are proving complex where it is difficult to identify exactly who owns what. Many positive developments have also emerged from the use of AI, such as increased accessibility to learning and education, agricultural improvements, disaster response and the ability to quickly analyse data and locate hot spots, in medical research where data analysis and showing predictability of findings has been reduced from years to just hours.
Tiffany recognised that AI is like a double-edged sword. She talked about the cognitive loss and role losses that may occur as are consequence of using AI; at the same time, it can help alleviate cognitive load and open up numerous jobs, particularly for those with AI skills.
When GEN AI is powered by people, that is, we lead and AI follows, that’s when “the magic happens”. Tiffany guided us through some examples of where we can use AI in OD – to meet organisations where they are at and how to make things easier for them. For example, books are a great source of helpful information, but they take too long. Through AI, Tiffany can provide book summaries. Other examples included using Chat GPT to generate training, fast and effective data collection and analysis to support managing change and ideas for how to manage my team sourcing Adam Grant’s work. The possibilities are endless, we could have talked for another three hours. Thank you to Tiffany for such an informative discussion and for helping make AI more doable and less daunting.
Members can log in and watch the video of the session here.
Not a member? Sign up!