How to Incorporate AI Training & Safety Guidelines into Your Organization

Artificial Intelligence is increasingly integrated into many of today’s systems, processes, and tools for work and personal use, meaning it is certainly a part of your employees’ lives. While artificial intelligence is already part of our everyday life, its use cases and its audience are changing rapidly. Think of ChatGPT’s rollout. In just two months after its November 2022 launch, it recorded 100 million users – setting a record for the fastest growing application in history. While at first it was a novelty, the use cases for ChatGPT have expanded just as rapidly as its user base. With how pervasive this technology is, companies must grapple with how and when they are incorporating AI into their processes.

McKinsey estimates that by 2030, activities that account for up to 30% of hours currently worked across the US economy could be automated. This percentage will accelerate as generative AI, or artificial intelligence capable of generating text, images, videos, or other data using generative models, grows. This is a huge benefit to companies, as their workers can concentrate on more value-creating tasks and accuracy can improve dramatically for data entry and other repetitive tasks.

While the opportunity for GenAI to improve and grow businesses is enormous, there are also big risks and fears surrounding this change. According to a study by Accenture, 95% of workers don’t trust organizations to use GenAI to ensure positive outcomes for everyone. And two-thirds of Chief Experience Officers confess that they are ill-equipped to lead this change.

Proper training, practices, and rules are critical to successfully and safely incorporating AI into your organization. With the proper infrastructure in place, your company can be part of the vanguard of companies using this technology to its fullest advantage. This group of innovators are two times more likely to see productivity gains of 20% or more in the next three years.

The Benefits and Risks of AI in the Workplace

Benefits

Defining artificial intelligence’s impact on businesses is a work in progress. Countless commentators and thought leaders have been opining on AI’s transformative power and its benefits. As it is increasingly introduced into corporate life, we are beginning to see some initial, research-based results around how AI can benefit your business.

First, AI can improve accuracy of data entry and other routine tasks. Human error impacts a company’s ability to harness data and learn from it. AI tools that partner with your employees ensure the accuracy of data inputs and streamline any repetitive tasks that could be at risk for accidental mistypes or errors.

Second, a recent study by MIT Sloan finds that generative AI can improve highly skilled workers’ performance by as much as 40%. Many companies are seeing AI as a partner for their workers. With AI in their toolbox, workers can expand their productivity and performance.

Productivity gains are clearest when it comes to creative activities. In the MIT study, researchers tasked workers with developing a pitch for a new product. When they used AI to help them think through all the creative steps, their performance improved substantially. Another set of workers used AI to help them author reports. This group took what AI told them to do and did not expand upon it. The researchers believed that for more straightforward, less creative tasks, workers “kind of switch off their brains and follow what AI recommends.” While with more creative tasks, AI becomes a helpful tool to enhance workers’ productivity and creativity.

The use of AI and its benefits vary widely across industries. For example, the logistics industry can see transformative gains from automated processes and from technological advances, like automated vehicles. In healthcare, AI can assist medical professionals in more quickly and accurately diagnosing and detecting diseases. In manufacturing, AI can perform ongoing maintenance checks to find and prevent issues before a human operator could detect them. Each industry has its own unique use case and benefits, but no industry is insulated from AI’s impact.

Risks

With benefits come risks. AI is not immune from pitfalls and risks, and businesses need to carefully consider these before implementing any AI tools and services.

AI models often rely on the input of existing data to train them. The use of PII, personally identifiable information, can present privacy and ethical risks. If the data is not properly secured or anonymized, data breaches and hacks of the AI service can make this information publicly available. As with all technologies, businesses must think through the security and privacy protocols around it to ensure data and proprietary information are safe and secure.

There has been much written about the issue of bias with AI models. Since AI is trained on data, AI will inherit any biases within the data set and perpetuate them in its future decisions and actions. As an example, there have been documented cases of AI favoring male or white candidates when used in hiring practices. This presents major ethical questions and risks for organizations relying on historical data where bias has played a role.

How to Create Limits for AI

For executives, implementing AI is a careful dance between taking full advantage of its benefits and mitigating its potential risks. A safety system around AI is crucial. This starts by selecting the right vendors and partners.

When assessing AI tools and vendors, question their ethical stance on AI and how they train their algorithms. Ensuring that AI vendors use diverse and unbiased data sets reduces the risk of perpetuating negative biases and prejudices.

Vendors vary in how they store data. Make sure to research how or if they store any of your company’s data. Can you keep all data in-house or does it live on their servers or cloud? These are important security questions to work through with your IT department to ensure data privacy.

After you have chosen the right AI tools and partners, create restrictions around what data your team can input into any AI tool or program. Many companies restrict the use of PII in any algorithm to maintain high privacy standards. Clear guidelines around data usage keeps your workers feeling confident and knowledgeable about how they can incorporate AI into their work.

Once your AI programs are up and running, the compliance and safety processes do not stop there. Instead, companies must continue to monitor and audit AI processes. AI tools will continue to change rapidly, so your safety program must do the same. Keep a close eye on changes to usage and your vendor’s capabilities and adjust your rules accordingly.

The Benefits of AI Training Programs for Employees

Per Accenture’s study, 82% of workers believe they grasp the technology, and 94% are confident they can develop the needed skills. Your workforce is confident and ready to take on the challenge of incorporating AI into their work process. AI training is a key opportunity to channel that energy and interest into massive productivity and creativity gains.

To keep your employees aware of changes, emphasize the importance of regular safety and ethics training. Training courses should incorporate real-life scenarios and practical examples to help employees think through the ethical and safety implications of the decisions they make.

This training can also teach employees about the new capabilities of the AI tools and systems they use. Keeping their skills up to date ensures that your company can realize the maximum productivity, efficiency, accuracy, and creativity gains. You also may need to share new restrictions or limitations as risks emerge unique to your business or industry.

While employees are confident about their ability to use AI, they are nervous about its impact on their job security. Fifty-eight percent of workers worry that generative AI is impacting their job security. Any training opportunities must reassure employees that AI is a partner to them rather than a replacement.

Training can also include reminding employees of the tangible benefits they will reap from using these AI tools and systems. Enhancing a culture of continued learning, AI training is an opportunity for employees to gain new skills, show their commitment to learning, and be positive collaborators. Sharing statistics about potential increased efficiency and accuracy is helpful to show employees how they can offload repetitive and time-consuming tasks to AI.

The Benefits of AI Training Programs for Your Organization

Regular AI training sessions ensure compliance standards, maximize the use of AI productivity and efficiency gains, and create a positive culture of learning, among many other benefits. During these trainings, leaders can teach employees about the latest advances in AI and equip your workforce with needed skills, ensuring big efficiency gains at scale.

As AI literacy increases across your organization, your workforce will be able to identify new opportunities, including ways to incorporate AI into other work processes, or even how to open new lines of business. The possibilities are endless, and your workers can play a key role in surfacing these opportunities.

Get Started Today

AI has enormous potential across all industries. With the proper security measures and training in place, your organization can be at the forefront of your industry and realize huge gains. As AI transforms, you need to adapt your processes and training to ensure you equip your workforce with the latest skills and feels confident in employing AI to its fullest potential.

Building the right AI infrastructure relies heavily on the talent of your team. Working with TeamSoft means you have the right talent to help your business grow. Contact us today to get started on finding the talent you need.