The rise of generative AI has been meteoric with the launch of new technology like ChatGPT making waves across industries. It’s estimated that at its current level of capability, generative AI has the potential to automate or augment 44% of tasks on average.
With Microsoft’s own proprietary AI technology, Copilot, soon to be launched, we are at an exciting turning point. However, many organisations have not yet recognised the breadth of capabilities that AI will offer and how it can be applied to different business functions.
According to a recent poll conducted by WebVine on ‘Getting Ready for Microsoft Copilot’, 43% of organisations are currently using AI for content and/or idea generation. This only scratches the surface for what generative AI can achieve and as new technology, like Copilot, becomes readily available, organisations will have a wider scope to drive productivity.
A whopping 68% of knowledge workers agree that generative AI has the potential to help in their roles. Let’s take a closer look at some of the ways we can leverage generative AI.
Idea and content generation
Generative AI systems like ChatGPT can analyse vast amounts of data, generate ideas and produce content. Microsoft Copilot will also pull from your organisation’s data, including financial reports and presentations, to help with ideation and content creation.
Need to do some brainstorming? Leverage AI to generate new ideas for articles, web copy, emails, ad copy, product concepts and headlines. Remember that the prompts you use will significantly influence the outcomes you receive. One effective technique is to create a persona for the AI generator, including knowledge & experience, writing style, format and intended audience eg “Acting as a legal expert: What are some pain points law firms use with their content marketing to educate clients and attract new businesses?”
For content creation, AI can quickly generate written articles and web copy as well as design graphics and even compose music. This can be a huge time saver, however it’s essential to carefully review any output to achieve consistent and high-quality results.
Automating tasks and processes
AI’s ability to interpret and action content opens a world of possibilities for streamlining operations. AI automation can assist with scheduling such as creating and sending reports and summaries.
Or take the process of onboarding a new staff member: AI will be able to intuitively welcome a new employee; from collecting and storing details, ensuring the review and attestation of important policies to building a skills matrix for tailored learning and development.
Help with decision making
Generative AI can also play a significant role in decision-making. By accessing and reviewing organisational data, AI technology like Copilot can provide insights and recommendations, helping businesses make informed choices. For instance, in a retail context, AI could analyse customer data and identify noteworthy customer segments such as those at risk of churn or representing repeat purchase opportunities.
Data management
Organisations are often inundated with unstructured data, much of which is never used. With some learning and guidance, AI can be instrumental in ingesting, identifying, categorising, tagging and analysing data, even from inconsistent source formats.
AI can then use this data to generate reports, summarise large datasets and even predict future trends. What previously might have taken days or weeks can now be done in a fraction of the time.
Workplace chatbots
One of the special features of Microsoft Copilot is the new business chat function which will operate as a far more advanced office assistant (remember Clippy?). AI virtual assistance can be incredibly useful in helping employees to work more efficiently by surfacing information & insights and carrying out tasks. It will access a vast amount of information and can generate responses that mimic human conversation.
Current Limitations of Generative AI
As many exciting new features and developments become available, it's important to acknowledge the current limitations of generative AI. While AI can help with a variety of tasks from content generation to automation, it can lack the deeper understanding, context and reasoning abilities that humans possess. This limitation can lead to inaccuracies, biases and misinterpretations, which are critical areas that still require human input. AI is still in its infancy, so as the technology continues to learn and evolve, so will the quality of output.
On the AI journey, organisations must carefully manage privacy and security issues, as well as ethical considerations around information bias and ensuring transparency and accountability for AI decision-making.
The Road Ahead
As generative AI continues to evolve, its capacity to automate holds the promise of increased efficiency and productivity across almost every industry.
Our recent webinar “Microsoft Copilot: Getting Ready For Workplace AI” covers everything you need to know about preparing for Copilot. Watch it here.