TSwedish pay-later company Klarna has become something of a poster child for the potential benefits of generative artificial intelligence. The company has saved millions of dollars by using artificial intelligence to create and customize promotional images and draft marketing copy. Earlier this year, the company said its AI chatbot assistants are doing the work of 700 human customer service representatives and predicted an additional $40 million in profits this year.
Klarna's approach highlights the potential for generative AI to power enterprise-wide systems like customer service, as well as help with some of the tasks that make up the day-to-day work of individual employees.
American companies are investing in AI and hoping for the benefits. So far, these tools have covered some of the tasks employees perform and saved them time, but they haven't had a significant impact on the business as a whole. For example, AI can speed up the work of computer programmers, or AI-powered chatbots can save HR staff time by answering coworkers' questions about benefits.
To embrace AI as proactively as organizations like Klarna do, companies need to feel comfortable that AI systems, rather than humans, are accessing sensitive data and interacting with customers. [generative] “We tried an AI chatbot experience, and they hated it,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said on a recent podcast. “It was one of the worst-performing experiments we've run during my tenure.” Silverman said the online marketplace has made changes to make it optional for customers to interact with chatbots, but that it will still likely result in some loss of sales for Etsy.
Then there's the impact on workers: Polls show that a majority of Americans are concerned that AI will reduce the quality and quantity of their jobs. In surveys, workers say they want their organizations to tell them how AI will be used and how it will affect their roles, to train them on new tools, and to be involved in thinking about how AI will be used at their companies.
Technology and finance companies are among the most advanced. Accenture, for example, developed a custom version of OpenAI's ChatGPT over the past year to help employees write sales proposals. The professional services firm involved proposal writers in designing and testing the tool, and then did extensive demos and training for the roughly 1,500 employees who use it. “If we can eliminate low-value, time-wasting work, writers like me become more valuable,” said Accenture. [with] “Things like strategic messaging,” says Sarah Suminski, Accenture's North American proposal writing leader.
IBM said it ensures that its AI-based systems “involve humans” when making decisions that affect people, and that every one of the 5 million resumes IBM receives each year is reviewed by a human. Academic researchers have found bias in AI systems, with some tools recommending African Americans for less prestigious jobs.
At the very least, the intense interest in generative AI is making companies pay more attention to the skills their employees have. About 66% of business leaders surveyed by Microsoft and LinkedIn said they wouldn't hire someone without AI skills. Companies are still figuring out what the key AI skills will be. Some say those skills will be essential, just as basic online literacy was essential when the internet was introduced to the workplace. Others say the ability to learn new things will be the most important skill.
We also need to think about how young employees can gain critical work experience when entry-level tasks can be performed by AI: Without those jobs, how will they learn the corporate judgment, values, and culture that are essential to climbing the promotion ladder?
There are no easy answers, but executives are optimistic. [are] “Most of these are solvable,” Etsy's Silverman said, referring to issues like response times for AI chatbots. “It's important that we continue to do this, because we have to learn.”
