Enjoyed this report as it was so goddamn honest, contradicting everything the 'consultants' and 'ethics' folk were recommending for the last year and more!
1. Gen AI Strategy is led internally—NOT by consultants
This bucks the trend. The strategy work is not led by the usual suspects or suspect advisors, many of whom have no real experience of building anything in AI. The bandwagon got bogged down by the sheer weight of hucksters. This technology gives so much agency to individuals within organisations, from to anyone producing text of any kind to coders, that the sisters and brothers are doing it for themselves. You wonder whether consultancy itself is under real threat from AI?
2. NO stringent policies on use in organisations
Interesting. Seems like a contradiction – massive rise in use but little sign of policies being used. I suspect that people have seen through the platitudes that are so often seen in these documents and statements of the blinding obvious, over-egging and exaggerating the ethical dangers.
3. Most employees do NOT face heavy restrictions in accessing Gen AI at their companies
The scepticism, regulatory effort, fear-mongering, even doomsters last year seem to have given way to a more level-headed recognition that this is a technology with real promise, so let's allow folk to use it, as we know they already do! My guess is that this AI on the SLY stuff happened so quickly that organisations just couldn't and didn't know how to respond. Like a lot of tech - it just happens.
4. Companies are adapting by expanding teams and adding Chief AI Officer (CAIO) roles
I wasn’t sure about this, as the first I heard about was in this report! I suspect this is a US thing or exaggerated in the sense of just having someone in the organisation who has emerged as the knowledgeable project manager. Can see it happening though.
5. LESS negativity and scepticism
More decision-makers feel ‘pleased’, ‘excited’, and ‘optimistic’, and less ‘amazed’, ‘curious’ and ‘sceptical’. Negative perceptions are softening, as decision-makers see more promise in Gen AI's ability to enhance jobs without replacing employees. This makes sense. A neat study showed that the scepticism tended to come from those who hadn’t used GenAI in anger. Now that adoption has surged, nearly doubling across functional areas in one year, the practical experimentation has shifted sentiment.
We seem to be going through the usual motions of a technological shift, where we get a period of fierce fear and resistance that gives way to the acceptance that it is all right really. The nay-sayers needed get it out of their systems, before use surges and realism prevails.
https://ai.wharton.upenn.edu/focus-areas/human-technology-interaction/2024-ai-adoption-report/
