There's so much buzz about ChatGPT, but how can you assist your organization in adopting it safely and ethically? Chief Strategy Officer, Colin Sloman discusses how Cognician can help.

 

The research preview of ChatGPT 3 was launched in November 2022 and, nearly a year later, the topic of generative AI is inescapable. With this in mind, I'd like to share two stories with you.

The first story involves a recent HR forum I spoke at, which was arranged by one of our esteemed partners, Criticaleye. During the discussions, which were aimed at contextualizing the event's focus, the question, "What topics are the top HR folks concerned about?" was asked. The resounding theme was artificial intelligence (AI) and its impact! More specifically, how to deal with tools like ChatGPT. This is not surprising, given that it's been on the hype curve for some time now. OpenAI launched ChatGPT 4 on March 14, 2023, and ChatGPT 5 is set to be released in 2025, amid an explosion of new AI tools being made available daily. 

The more interesting discussion during the 2023 Critcaleye HR forum was how few of the leaders had started to use generative AI. Only a minority had commenced their utilization of generative AI, formulated concrete plans to experiment with AI applications, and actively fostered organizational considerations for harnessing its potential.

 

The penny dropped for me when I think about this second story. This month, my copy of Wired magazine dropped through my letterbox. On the front cover was the CTO of OpenAI, Mira Murati, in a thoughtful pose, alongside the quote: "It's futile to resist it. We have to figure out how it's going to go well." In 2019, the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) predicted that within 15 to 20 years, new automation technologies would likely eliminate 14% of the world's jobs and radically transform 32% of them. Those sobering numbers, involving more than 1 billion people globally, don't even account for the sudden ascent of generative AI.

So, with these two stories in mind, and the announcement that Microsoft will launch CoPilot for Microsoft Office 365 users in early November, we need to prepare ourselves for this next technological revolution ... and fast.

"Resistance is Futile."

Mira Murati's quote is particularly appealing to me. It reminds me of the Borg, a group of cybernetic organisms from Star Trek that comprise a collective hive mind which assimilates everything in its path. It seems that OpenAI's CTO is foretelling us that AI will be everywhere – even in your Microsoft Word app as soon as next month – and so we'd better get ready...

Early this year, we explored and investigated ChatGPT and started to consider how it might impact our business. Obviously, there was a significant productivity opportunity, but also a risk to ensuring responsible and ethical use. A few weeks later, we launched the ChatGPT Foundations Quest and encouraged our employees to experiment. 83% of our team took nearly 200 actions to learn about ChatGPT's capabilities, experiment with incorporating it into their workflows, and test their understanding of responsible use.

We established several activation outcomes, including the four listed below:

  1. Participants discovered new applications for generative AI and gained a deeper understanding of its relevance in various fields, industries, and contexts.

  2. Participants used generative AI in experimental 'stretch' actions to increase their awareness of its capabilities, optimize its use, and develop range in what they can do.

  3. Participants took 'responsible use' actions to increase their safety and the ethical use of generative AI.

  4. Participants improved their efficiency and productivity by utilizing generative AI.

A key feature of the Cognician platform is that participants are provided with an opportunity to reflect on what they've learned. In this program, participants shared over 14,000 words about practical use cases that create and add value to our business. They also shared some comments about the limitations they encountered. Here are two examples:

"Although I am a regular user of ChatGPT, I am excited to learn more about leveraging the technology in all kinds of situations. It is also interesting to see other people's applications for the tech; we can learn a lot from each other."

"It seems like it copy-pasted text from the results page from Google and added some disclaimers on top."

Allowing participants to experiment, apply critical thinking, and test what types of prompts are useful has sparked a movement at Cognician that has already paid dividends. We're incorporating AI into our analytics and reporting, creative content development, and marketing practices, and these are becoming integrated into our ways of working.

Now, returning to the HR forum participants – what steps might they take to start assimilating AI into their businesses, and how do they do it while respecting copyright, plagiarism, and jobs?

Activating ChatGPT or Copilot in Your Organization

How Can You Help Your Employees to Become More AI-Literate?

We can assist your employees in understanding the 'why' behind using AI tools and determining how to do so safely and ethically. Cognician's employee activation platform can assist your business in activating the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools by leveraging our ready-to-go ChatGPT Foundations Quest or our Copilot Adoption Quest, which can also be customized for your specific business context. It introduces the fundamentals of AI and will assist your employees in exploring ChatGPT and other AI platforms.

Connect with Us

Are you ready to benefit from an improved understanding of generative AI? Cognician can provide your organization with a broader introduction to AI tools, a more in-depth and focused learning experience, or something in between. Contact us to find out how our employee activation experiences can assist you in activating new cultures and mindsets. See info.cognician.com for more info.