Stocks on Wall Street spiked on Thursday afternoon, driven by the rising tide of Nvidia. A stunning forecast from the chipmaker – whose silicon solutions are powering the future with artificial intelligence (AI) chips – pushed the company’s stock up 24%. The company forecast revenue that was 50% higher than estimates, according to Reuters. “Investors are obsessed with AI,” says Jake Dollarhide from Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa. “Nvidia has officially replaced FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google) as the centerpiece of this market.” Meanwhile the centerpiece of the C-Suite may be shifting as well. Chat GPT, machine learning and artificial intelligence are reshaping company leadership, so that forward-thinking organizations can capitalize on the chip-powered wave of the future. Enter the newest member in the boardroom: the CAiO.
The CAiO, or Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, is a nascent position that will be utilized by a select group of companies and industries, moving to a more universal visibility in the future. Forward-thinking organizations will dedicate executive resources to harness the power of AI, including its current forms as Chat GPT, Bard and others. Perhaps more importantly, the CAiO will drive direction on how organizations can harness and leverage the promise of this brave new world (and controversial technology). So, what businesses will benefit most from a CAiO, and what can your company do to take advantage of the most compelling technological advancement since the printing press?
According to research from MIT, ChatGPT is already impacting organizations across a variety of industries – but some will be helped more than others, in the near term. Nevertheless, researchers Shakked Noy and Whitney Zhang in Boston have shown that Chat GPT raised productivity, work quality, and more. The research shows that “75% [of workers] saw improvements in team morale, collaboration and collective learning.” The paper goes on to state that AI can transform cultures, and “liberate workers”. Wait a second, did these brilliant PhDs misspell the word “replace”?
Enhancing performance is the ultimate goal for artificial intelligence, and the power of machine learning surrounds us everywhere we look (especially on screens like the one you are viewing now). Algorithms and search engines are online spaces where artificial intelligence has been guiding our experience for years. And now, for specific industries, the impact of the CAiO can create a new strategy for leveraging resources like Chat GPT, Bard and others.
Dallas entrepreneur and digital creator, Kevin Page, shares that communications-led industries will be the first to adapt to the CAiO model. The C-Suite will shift, thanks to artificial intelligence, in industries like marketing, advertising and entertainment. Page writes, “In the entertainment industry, the CAiO will be the storyteller for the future, using AI to create immersive and personalized experiences for audiences. From generating scripts to characters, AI-powered tools will be changing production workflows and the CAiO will be coordinating a series of innovative processes across many departments.”
Meanwhile, if you are wondering about the writers strike in Hollywood, it’s still going strong. But if you are wondering why, perhaps the paragraph above gives some insight? To be sure, the nearly 12,000 writers are fighting for their future – especially in a world where Chat GPT, machine learning and AI are seen as threats, not tools. But beyond the conflicts in film and TV, the business world at large is already changing – especially around branding, messaging and content creation. How will your company’s leadership adapt? Will the CAiO be inserted into the marketing department, or perhaps IT – or is this role going to oversee some or all of the company’s operations? Only time – and the nature of your industry – will tell that story.
The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that access to generative AI at work increased employee productivity by an average of 14% and that customers and employees were “happier”, with a “minimal impact on experienced and highly skilled workers”. Does this assertion make you suspicious? Curious? Interested in seeing if your organization can create similar results? Or are you compelled to google the word, “singularity”? Perhaps we are entering an age of unprecedented efficiency. Or are we on a digital rocket sled without any brakes?
Working with artificial intelligence is a bit like taming a tiger. The CAiO is the one who will be tasked with stepping into the cage, and making sure that the tiger performs…and doesn’t turn on the entire audience.
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