This is Part 1 of a three-part series exploring issues around the rapid rise of generative AI.

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) achieves more popularity in the mainstream, it is essential for companies to recognize the significant impact it is having on the way work is done. Nearly every business, regardless of industry or size, has at least one department using some form of generative AI for their business initiatives.

The awe-inspiring (yet slighty frightening) content produced by AI has led businesses and their employees to contemplate how AI may be integrated into their work product – to minimize cost, maximize efficiency, and remedy skills gaps. While the possible benefits of leveraging AI are significant, haphazard use of this technology also represents potential organizational risk. The decision of whether, when, and how to integrate AI should not be left to individual employees. Instead, companies should adopt a thoughtful, policy-driven approach to govern AI.

The Ascent of Generative AI

Generative AI seems innovative to the public. However, machine learning has long been a part of many workplace applications, such as:

  • data analysis
  • customer service
  • recruitment and hiring
  • fraud detection
  • translation and language services
  • project management
  • editing and drafting tools

Generative AI algorithms generate text, images, video, audio, code, or synthetic data predicated on training and user inputs, often working with human interaction. Some of the more famous examples that burst on the scene in 2023 include ChatGPT, DALL-E and Bing.

Generative AI systems have the potential to become a disruptive workplace technology, meaning that careful assessment of the associated risks and benefits is vital.

Generative AI in the Global Marketplace

As a tool, AI offers many indisputable benefits to both efficiency and creativity. Generative AI can consolidate repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on the more sophisticated and creative facets of their jobs. This shift can result in better productivity and more efficient application of available human resources. The potential implications reach across a myriad of industries. Research by Goldman Sachs’ estimates that as many as 300 million global full-time jobs may be automated by AI, elevating global GDP by 7 percent over the next decade.

By automating unique tasks, generative AI can lower the expense of content generation, giving teams the freedom to more effectively designate resources for growth opportunities. At the same time, generative AI can offer valuable insights and recommendations based on massive datasets, helping companies to make more informed decisions and more sharpy refine their strategies.

The Risks Involved with Generative AI

Privacy: AI-generated content might unintentionally include personal data or violate compliance privacy regulations, opening organizations up to legal risks and causing damage to their reputation.
Cybersecurity: Employing AI tools may provide new avenues of attack for cyber criminals and hackers, requiring companies to create more stringent cybersecurity protocols and ensure that their AI systems and tools are secure.
Misinformation: Generative AI can generate very convincing but wholly inaccurate content, causing concern its ability to spread misinformation. This can cause significant harm to a company’s credibility, as well as give rise to false advertising claims, broken consumer protection regulations and litigation or penalties.
Likeness Rights: AI-generated content may unwittingly infringe on a person’s right of publicity or generate unauthorized representations of real people, places or things – a potential risk for legal disputes.
Ethical Concerns: Generative AI can create or perpetuate negative biases and adversely impact employee morale, leading to ethical and cultural concerns. Several major US companies have already prohibited the use of ChatGPT by their employees.

Ready to Learn More?

In our next installment, we will expore the legal issues surrounding generative AI in regards to copyright infringement and intellectual property laws.

Alliance IT employs an expert team of professionals who are well versed in cloud services, the advances in generative AI, and the security issues surrounding these platforms. If you are looking for guidance in this areas and require the innovative skills to navigate the challenges, call us today.