Leaders need a cultural and technical understanding of AI

AI upskilling within organisations requires both a technical and non-technical understanding of the technology.

Pieter den Hamer, vice president of AI at Gartner Research discussed with Digital Nation the factors executives need to think about when upskilling their workforce in AI.

“The most successful use of AI is not only about a technological investment. It's also about change in your business. As we all know change can be difficult and requires a certain mindset, it can meet resistance and it's not easy in general,” he explained.

Den Hamer said executives play a key role in leading by example and fostering this sense of urgency that is important for the future of their organisation.

“They should help also to facilitate that change by offering the time people need to make to innovate,” he said.

When approaching staff around AI upskilling, den Hamer said executives should expect mixed opinions towards AI, from excitement to fear.

“It is best practice we see emerging in the market that companies that are leading in adopting AI are those that are also explicitly addressing those sentiments,” he said.

“These sentiments may vary from people being overly optimistic about AI. They think it is a miracle cure that will solve all their problems. Then, disappointment, it is almost inevitable when your expectations are that high about AI,” he said.

“Secondly, at the other sort of extreme of the spectrum of sentiments is people are fearful about losing their jobs and AI replacing them.”

In between, den Hamer said there are people concerned about how trustworthy AI is.

“What is the risk of bias and discrimination and when we start using AI, how can we make AI more transparent, how about security and intellectual property?  Managing the risks, identifying and mitigating goes with this is another key element when executives think about AI,” he said.

Den Hamer explained that executives need to understand that to implement AI, they need to have the right people with the right skills embedded within the organisation.

“It is about thinking, what are we going to do ourselves? What are we going to do together with partners, if any?” He said.

“In general, it's recommendable to not reinvent your own wheel, but to work with people that have already done this perhaps elsewhere and to accelerate, catalyse your own learning, and also recognise that it's not just about technology.”

Den Hamer said AI is not a “walk in the park”.

“You need people that have the right skills, technical people, people that can work with your business stakeholders to identify their requirements to make sure AI is implemented effectively,” he ended.