Generative AI is a topic of conversation for everyone as we can apply it in various scenarios. Still, the questions that arise are: how far can you go? What can you do regarding optimization? How do you implement it? And what is most important: how do you scale AI for businesses? This was a topic of the McKinsey Talks Operations podcast episode, where the show host, Christian Johnson, sat down with senior partner Nicolai Müller and partner Marie El Hoyek from McKinsey’s Operations Practice.
They discussed the role of generative AI in operations, improving business productivity, and essential steps every business needs to take to implement AI successfully.
Enormous 50% Productivity Increase with AI Adoption
Mr. Müller noted that generative AI can automate processes that were previously difficult to optimize, which can lead to a significant value increase across industries, potentially generating $3.5 to $4 trillion of economic impact. The McKinsey Global Institute discovered that we can automate about 50% of typical activities in collaboration and management using generative AI.
AI Hallucinations. Know the Risks to Avoid Being Tricked by AI
Discussion of the risks associated with generative AI was a big part of this episode. McKinsey partners discussed the issue of bias, intellectual property, and a phenomenon called “hallucination,” where AI gives convincing but wrong answers. Marie stressed how important it is to be aware of these risks to be able to mitigate them.
Impact on Business Strategies and Operations and How to Get Ahead of Competition
Nicolai Müller mentioned that generative AI could have a substantial positive impact on business strategies, but he pointed out that you need to understand how generative AI will impact the industry, improve processes, and potentially disrupt other businesses to pick the right strategy for you. He also mentioned that to make the strategy work, it’s necessary to develop the right competencies and governance within organizations to leverage generative AI effectively.
Start Small – Scale Fast. How to Prepare Your Company for Change
The discussion touched on the importance of starting with pilot projects and the challenge of scaling. Marie El Hoyek pointed out that to successfully scale, you need to focus on both human and system aspects. This includes developing new skills amongst the employees, like prompt engineering and making strategic decisions on technology adoption and data processing.
Please follow this link to listen to the full episode or read the discussion transcript.
Augmented Experts Take on Generative AI for Business
The conversation about incorporating AI is starting, and the race to implement it is around the corner. Generative AI has an incredible potential when it comes to optimizing:
“One of the most painful content creation processes is time. It takes hours to research, edit, and optimize SEO… When we were working on our AI technology, our goal was to make content creation scalable, which means it needed to be done quickly. Now, the AI behind Augmented Experts does research, outlines, and many other things. I tested it out, and it took me 30 minutes to finish a whole blog post. This kind of optimization needs to happen everywhere. Every business should look at its processes and challenge them to see if they can be done better. This mindset will give you a competitive edge, especially if you implement AI before everyone else realizes how to do it best in your industry,” says Michael Marchese, Founder and CEO of Augmented Experts.”
