Does Your Business Need to Recruit Executives with AI Expertise?

In a recently published article, we wrote about the differences between artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning. It is important that business leaders understand these distinctions, but it is perhaps more important that they think strategically about how AI could benefit their business.

Artificial intelligence will affect a vast array of business functions, and businesses that don’t assess the potential benefits and likely disruption of widespread AI may find themselves at a significant disadvantage.

The term “artificial intelligence” is often used to describe any vaguely “smart” software, from traditionally programmed software whose intelligence is nothing more than an elaborate nest of if statements, to the machine and deep learning algorithms developed in recent years. We’re focused on the latter, because of its novelty, because it represents a real technological transformation, and because it is so widely applicable.

Modern AI is used in businesses today by cybersecurity experts who deploy deep learning algorithms to predict cyberattacks, marketers who use it to predict customer behavior, customer service teams using it for life-like chatbots, manufacturers who use it to increase production line efficiency, and in many more scenarios.

Debunking Two AI Myths

Two AI myths should be cleared away before business leaders begin to think about an AI strategy:

• AI means replacing humans with machines, resulting in massive job losses.
• AI is all about cost-cutting.

In fact, in the initial waves of AI adoption, there will be far more hiring than firing, as we’ll discuss later. However, AI systems are also more likely to work alongside and augment employees than replace them. There’s no denying that some roles will be replaced almost entirely, but, for the most part, AI will serve to augment the productivity of existing employees.

Technologies like machine and deep learning have a role to play in cutting costs and increasing efficiency. But perhaps the most exciting implications are in areas where AI can be used to create new products, expand a company’s market share, and fuel growth. 

The real gain is not in making existing processes more efficient, but in creating novel products, services, and processes that would not be possible without artificial intelligence.

Three Components Of A Successful AI Strategy

Developing an AI strategy is a long-term endeavor. A successful strategy will evolve as technology and the business environment changes. But, in the short term, there are three areas that business leaders should carefully examine.

• Making the business case. How can artificial intelligence help your business achieve its strategic goals? Which current business processes may be amenable to automation? Can the state of the art in artificial intelligence help your business to develop new products and services? Answering this question requires a clear conception of the business’s goals and how AI technology in its current state can be applied to achieving them.
• Recruitment. To effectively implement AI, it’s important that a business has leadership who understand the technology and its implications. In 2019, technical executives with AI expertise are in short supply, but the businesses that flourish in an AI-dominated future will have invested in in-house technical fluency in machine learning, deep learning, and other emerging technologies
• Training. Earlier, we said that AI will augment employees rather than replace them, but many employees do not have the skills necessary to work with AI systems. Technical training should be a priority for any company that intends to enhance existing processes with artificial intelligence.

To begin implementing your AI strategy, contact our executive hiring and technical training specialists today.