Build a Winning AI Strategy for Your Business - HBR.org Daily

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Build a Winning AI Strategy for Your Business - HBR.org Daily

Artificial intelligence is a kind of catalyst; it’s the next wave of truly transformative technology with potential we cannot yet fully envision or appreciate. Companies will start by using this new technology to do “old things” before discovering the new opportunities it creates. So, how should they go about this process? They should: start by experimenting, deploy for productivity, transform experiences, and then try to build new things. Throughout this process, they should prioritize security and responsible use. Recently, like millions of people, I used a ride-sharing app on my smartphone. It was pretty uneventful and not something I gave much thought. Ride-sharing is simple and convenient, and it’s now an $80+ billion industry. But it wasn’t that long ago that it didn’t even exist. We had cars, we had riders, and we had drivers; but to work, ride-sharing needed smartphones. When they arrived, so did an enormous variety of conveniences and new experiences — some that became entire industries — that we never could have imagined. Artificial intelligence is a similar kind of catalyst; it’s the next wave of truly transformative technology with potential we cannot yet fully envision or appreciate. It is the defining technology of our time, changing the way we live and work. In my entire career in tech, I’ve never been more excited and optimistic than I am now. I have a colleague at Microsoft who talks about AI like this: You’ve got to use the “new thing” to do old things better. Then, you use the new thing to … do new things. He’s right. Consider an example from health care. Paige is a software company using AI to change the way doctors identify, diagnose, and treat cancers. With properly trained and tuned models, AI can look at thousands of digital pathology images, pixel by pixel, and detect abnormalities faster and with more accuracy. Imagine what these tools can unlock not only for pathologists and doctors, but for patients, too. It means earlier disease detection, healthier lives, and more time with loved ones. Right now every company, no matter the size or industry, should be thinking about AI. AI is moving from its auto-pilot phase, which was all about narrow, purpose-built tools that use machine learning models to make predictions, recommendations, and automate, to its copilot phase, where there’s tremendous opportunity to revolutionize how just about everything gets done. Leaders who embrace AI now and take action to understand it, experiment with it, and envision how it can solve hard problems are going to run companies that thrive in an AI world. But where should they start? Nearly every day, I talk with business leaders who ask important questions about AI’s potential. No matter where you are in your AI journey, it’s incumbent upon every leader to embrace this unique time and take advantage of this powerful technology. If you feel unsure how to start, or how to move forward, you’re not alone. Like any business-planning exercise, think about your AI strategy in phases. Embrace agility and change, and keep a continuous learning mindset, calibrating and adjusting your gameplan as you go. Start by Experimenting The best way to learn about AI is to use it. It’s rare for new and disruptive technology to be immediately accessible. This is. Most of the leaders I talk with have tried popular AI applications like ChatGPT or the new Bing. There are many other options out there, but the point is to get curious. Try applying it to whatever task is in front of you and see what it’s good at and what it’s not. Use it to generate interview questions, write a memo, research and summarize a topic you want to learn more about, or get thought starters for a document. I used Bing and ChatGPT to help me get ideas for a speech.  I’ve used Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI integration across Microsoft apps to generate slides, to find and summarize documents that share a topic, and to recap email exchanges with colleagues. By using and experimenting with AI, you’ll be in a better position to imagine how it could be used in your organization — and you likely know better than anyone where opportunities and potential exist. Deploy for Productivity When it comes to productivity, AI copilots — from Microsoft and from others — can be deployed or embedded in applications t...