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2023 will be the year we remember as a critical inflection point for AI. ChatGPT has captured our imagination and put AI at the fingertips of every person with access to the Internet. Generative AI apps are growing in numbers as we speak. We can truly say we are in the Age of AI.
On 28 September 2023, PebbleRoad gathered a panel of experts to discuss how might we design modern organisations to thrive in the age of AI. This was a community event of Singapore Design Week 2023.
The panel featured these industry experts:
Moderated by Maish Nichani, the panel discussed traditional versus gen AI, the use of big data versus sparse data in AI, as well as organisational and leadership challenges in adopting AI. These are the key takeaways:
Learning and development expert Praise Mok of ROHEI urged organisations to address the strong underlying fear that workers have when it comes to mastering new tech, including AI. There is a need for organisations to connect the head with the heart. She said: “If there’s fear, [the workers] will be stuck” and unable to make the jump to learn how to master new tech and new ways of working. There needs to be structure, patience and humans (e.g. people managers) to support adult learners to take the leap.
As with all tech, GenAI has its limitations (e.g. hallucinations); it has also raised concerns about ethics, compliance, data security and privacy. Sengmeng Koo of AI Singapore, who leads the scaling of AI literacy and proficiency in schools and among working professionals, said it’s therefore imperative for organisations to train their talent to review the information generated by AI critically. Independent thinking is now ever more critical in exploiting what comes out of AI. As Nitin of Bloomberg added, “We have to prepare humans for the new world”.
Now organisations without huge datasets can use GenAI efficiently by riding on available foundational models. This allows SMEs to have a go at exploiting AI too. However Paul Chen of AWS advised that it’s always best to have a use case as a starting point. “If [clients] don’t have one, they’ll spend a lot of time trying to use AI without a destination. The solution might not be GenAI — it could be simpler. But if GenAI is a good fit, we take customers on a journey of experiential learning.” Sengmeng added that AI Singapore focuses on “solutions not models” i.e. solving real business problems rather than building specific foundational models for clients.
When AI Singapore was first established in 2017, businesses were reluctant to invest in AI — viewing it as a threat to jobs. Today, companies want to exploit AI to amplify business value. Sengmeng’s advice on maximising ROI: “Instead of customising a single AI model to solve a single problem, we can use Gen AI to solve multiple problems. It reduces the friction of AI adoption.”
In response to Maish’s sharing of Mustafa Suleyman’s book The Coming Wave, Nitin of Bloomberg brought optimism to the discussion. He reminded the audience that with every new revolution, the world has evolved with the changes. He cited the example of “fire” as an invention. If misused, it is destructive, yet fire is hailed as one of humankind’s greatest discovery. The same applies to AI — it is the human who will determine the good or bad outcomes. So while there will be bad actors, he believes that mostly “we will be all right.”
There are lots of grants for SMEs to adopt tech, including AI. You can ask ChatGPT or your preferred LLM to generate the list. But before jumping into AI, senior leaders can use AI Singapore’s AI Readiness Index to determine their organisations’ AI readiness and identify gaps between current and desired states.
If you are interested to explore AI opportunities through our sprint, do contact us at info@pebbleroad.com.
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