What I Think About AI

I’ve been thinking for a long time about the impact of artificial intelligence on the business world in general, and in my organization specifically. I’ve held off writing about it because there has been such a deluge of media coverage, I didn’t want to jump into the debate without taking time to form a considered opinion.

There’s no doubt that the growth of AI is surging way beyond anyone’s expectations of just a year or so ago. Look at these numbers:

• The AI market is projected to reach a staggering $1,339 billion by 2030, a huge leap from the estimated $214 billion revenue in 2024, according to a Forbes Advisor report.
• 64% of business owners believe AI will increase productivity and 42% believe it will streamline job processes.
• A Statista report highlighted that 63% of businesses have already enjoyed improved customer satisfaction through the adoption of AI initiatives.
• 84% of LinkedIn members in the U.S. are in occupations that can leverage generative AI to automate at least a quarter of routine tasks and increase productivity.
• LinkedIn Learning’s  Workplace Learning Report for 2024 says that four in five people want to learn more about how to use AI in their profession.

So let me address some of the concerns that have been raised about the AI revolution.

Impact on jobs 

The natural fear of many workers is that AI is gunning for their jobs and employers are looking for opportunities to reduce workforce. From watching and reading comments of pioneers in the field, as well as feedback from some of my major clients, it’s easy to conclude that the fear is overblown.

Jensen Wong, founder and CEO of Nvidia, says, “AI is going to revolutionize and transform everybody’s job but the idea that AI would do 100% of somebody’s job is very unlikely and quite frankly impractical for any time in the horizon.” But, he says, AI will do 20% to 40% of 100% of jobs. “It’s really important that everybody should learn how to use AI. They’re not going to lose their jobs to AI—they’re going to lose their jobs to someone who uses AI.”

Gartner agrees saying that in the short- to medium-term, few jobs will be fully replaced by generative AI. What it will do is lower the level of technical skills needed for many roles, widely increasing jobs for which candidates can qualify.

That concurs with the view of a senior executive of a global manufacturing company who told me he saw the integration of AI from a robotic standpoint. Instead of replacing people it will create a need to hire more people to handle expansion. I agree and regard AI as a great resource to gather ideas or information or maybe an indication of where to go to find knowledge.

The Human Element 

The man versus machine debate has raged for a long time. But I can’t imagine a time when AI will replace the creativity that comes from human interaction. The feeling of my Fortune 500 clients is that we won’t get to the point where AI creates original thought. Instead, it’s an intelligence tool that brings collective thought leadership and ideas and best practices together. It is not going to replace the human creation of an organizational work environment and a culture of working together.

For instance, I don’t see AI replacing the highly personal interactions between trainers and students in our training programs and executive coaching. Or when it comes to writing articles (like this one). AI can’t conduct personal interviews with experts. (not yet, anyway!) From a leadership perspective AI won’t replace what we do engaging with human capital and the need to be servant leaders, to grow other people’s capabilities, and react with true personal empathy when individual challenges arise.

Pinar Seyhan Demirdag, cofounder of Cuebric, an AI solution that creates in minutes virtual backgrounds for filmmakers, which used to take four to six months, told 60 Minutes, “Just because a machine can do faster calculations, comparisons, and analytical solution creation, that doesn’t make it smarter than you. In my belief, smarts have to do with your capacity to love, create, expand, transcend. These are qualities that are reserved to only humans.”

Creative Collaboration 

I see AI as being more of an efficiency-creating tool and not a replacement of service. Artificial intelligence can drive collaborative intelligence. Or to put it more simply: AI can drive CI. You can use it as an idea generator which human behavior can then sort through with green light-red light thinking, come up with solutions, and guide implementation.

Professor Fei-Fei Li, founding director of the Stanford University Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and author of The Worlds I see: Curiosity, Exploration and Discovery at the Dawn of AI, says, “The future of artificial intelligence is not about man versus machine, but rather man with machine. Together, we can achieve unimaginable heights of innovation and progress.”

A LinkedIn article makes the point that AI is here to take on the repetitive tasks, giving us more room to focus on what truly matters: creativity, strategy and personal connections. It’s about enhancing our skills, not replacing them.

We’ve Been Here Before 

The most significant “business revolutions” in human history are generally considered to be the Agricultural Revolution (transitioning from hunter-gatherer societies to farming), the Industrial Revolution (marked by the rise of factories and steam power), and the Information Revolution (characterized by the development of computers and the internet).

The AI Revolution promises to out-do them all. Sam Altman, cofounder and CEO of OpenAI the company behind ChatGPT, says, “This is a tool that magnifies human ability. We’ll see incredible things.” He points out that already people are using it in numerous ways—as a medical advisor to identify disease…as a tutor to learn things they couldn’t learn before…or helping to run a small business. “We’re at the early stages but like with any tool people will be able to do things they just couldn’t do before.”

And as Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet has repeatedly said, “AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire.”

Looking Ahead 
As we stand at the threshold of the AI revolution, the potential for growth and innovation is undeniable. Businesses, leaders, and workers all face a future where adaptability and curiosity will define success. Rather than fearing obsolescence, embracing AI as a collaborative tool offers a path to greater productivity, creativity, and strategic thinking.

Challenges around ethics, bias, and regulation must be addressed with care, but history shows that with every major technological leap, humanity has risen to the occasion. By focusing on the human strengths that AI cannot replace—empathy, imagination, and collaboration—we can harness this technology to build a future that benefits us all. AI will not dictate our destiny; our choices in how we engage with it will.

Written by Jason Richmond.
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