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- AI — artificial intelligence — is this year's buzzword at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
- While there's much chatter about AI, not everyone grasps how companies can start implementing it.
- Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, says there's a big learning gap about what constitutes AI.
If I had a dime for every time I've heard the term "AI" at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, then I'd be very rich indeed.
The annual meeting is in full swing, with AI at the center of all conversations. From panels to coffee meetings, AI has found its way. Walking up and down the Promenade — the main street in Davos — I've heard several conversations start with "I am not an expert in AI, but …"
However, several leaders told Business Insider that while companies and governments attending Davos want to talk about AI, not everyone has a deeper understanding of how to harness it.
Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council, says there's always a hot topic at the World Economic Forum every year: "It's always something and it's usually the most superficial tip, with the most superficial layer."
In the past, themes such as ESG, bitcoin, blockchain and VR have dominated the conversations. This year's Davos buzzword seems to be AI.
AI is getting a lot of attention and there's much talk about the potential risks such as machines taking over jobs, but not enough discussion of the technical aspects or what problems it will actually help solve, Warren told BI.
The focus on AI is not just limited to conversations. Big companies such as Salesforce, Infosys, IBM and Accenture have giant billboards and posters along the Promenade screaming their commitment to AI.
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Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient, a consulting firm, compares the buzz around AI to the early days of the internet. He thinks people are talking about AI because they now understand it, to some degree.
Vaz says AI is likely to be entwined in conversations about other topics, similar to the way the internet stopped being a distinct buzzword.
"Years back, when the internet was the buzzword of the day, the conversation here was also about how the internet is going to change business. And we don't talk about it anymore, but it is fundamentally embedded in every other conversation we have. I feel like AI is going to head down the same trajectory," he explains.
A recent report from Accenture shows there's an urgent need for business leaders to look beyond how generative AI affects roles and tasks, and to start redesigning processes across their organizations.
According to the report, almost 10% of organizations are "leading" when it comes to their capabilities for reinvention and how they maximize the potential for generative AI to boost efficiency and productivity.
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Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, told BI there's a big learning gap on what constitutes AI. Much of what is being called "generative AI" has been around for decades, while much of what workers think is AI is actually automation.
"You will know when a company has figured it out when they can confidently report on their call that Gen AI drove X per cent of our revenue, and there's no pushback from the sell-side analysts on the call. That's when you know that there's a level and degree of confidence in what they're representing," Richardson said.
Ivana Bartoletti, chief privacy and AI governance officer of Wipro, an IT services company, says businesses are now trying to work out how to move from the "glamour" to the "actual implementation" of AI.
Similarly, Guru Gowrappan, CEO of ViaSat, a communications operator, says many companies are just talking about AI at Davos — but not actually doing much with it.
"I don't think everybody understands it. And some of them are just recategorizing what they were doing to call it AI," he tells BI.
Gowrappan thinks the true potential of AI for more complex tasks such as contextual thinking and healthcare applications is yet to come: "I think the audience here is more shallow."