Skip to main content

What Business Leaders Need To Know About AI

Mastering AI by Jeremy Kahn is absolutely a must-read for every business leader who wants to better understand the history and evolution of AI (Artificial Intelligence), and more important, the promise and perils of AI for businesses and society. Even if you think you have a basic understanding of AI, this book is an essential resource for you. 

That is because Kahn delivers not only a timely, thorough and thought-provoking examination of AI’s benefits to humanity as well as its potentially chilling dangers, but also and vitally, a declaration for how we should proceed as AI evolves.

Reading Mastering AI reminded me of the popular The Popcorn Report by Faith Popcorn – where in 1992 she identified and forecasted trends to chart the future's impact on our businesses, our lives, and our world. 

Similarly, Fortune magazine journalist, Kahn, draws on his expertise and extensive contacts among the companies and scientists at the forefront of artificial intelligence to offer dramatic predictions of AI’s impact over the next decade, from reshaping our economy and the way we work, learn, and create to unknitting our social fabric, jeopardizing our democracy, and fundamentally altering the way we think.

Kahn explains that AI depends on three components:

  1. Algorithms
  2. Computing Power
  3. Data 
What AI does:

  • AI processes massive amounts of data, looking for patterns to model decision-making. 
  • AI enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities 
  • AI technology can process substantial amounts of data in ways, unlike humans. 

Within the next five years, Kahn predicts AI will disrupt almost every industry and enterprise, with vastly increased efficiency and productivity. 

For example, Kahn foresees that AI will restructure the workforce, making AI “copilots” necessary for every knowledge worker. 

“Almost every professional, in fields from accounting to medicine to architecture, will be using an AI copilot, helping to automate many routine tasks in their jobs and acting as a kind of digital colleague,” says Kahn. 

And away from work, Kahn forecasts that AI will:

  • Revamp education, meaning children around the world can have personal, portable tutors.
  • Revolutionize health care, making individualized, targeted pharmaceuticals more affordable.
  • Compel us to reimagine how we make art, compose music, and write and publish books. 

“The potential of generative AI to extend our skills, talents, and creativity as humans is undeniably exciting and promising,” shares Kahn. 

However, “while this new technology has a bright future, it also casts a dark and fearful shadow,” warns Kahn. 

Kahn explains that if not carefully designed and vigilantly regulated AI will deepen income inequality, depressing wages while imposing winner-take-all markets across much of the economy. 

Also, continuing a process begun by the internet, AI will rewire our brains, likely inhibiting our ability to think critically, to remember, and even to have a good relationship with one another—unless we all take decisive action to prevent this from happening. 

“Yes, this technology is strange and frightening, but it is also exciting and fabulous in equal measure,” says Kahn. He adds that “like every technology that has come before, we can master AI. But to do so, we must master ourselves. We must apply our own natural intelligence, creativity, and wisdom. If this is indeed the last invention humanity ever creates, we’d better make it good.” 

Jeremy Kahn

Kahn shares these additional insights for business leaders: 

Question: In general, what are the most important factors to consider when thinking about how a company can use AI to gain a competitive advantage? 

Kahn: For most companies, their competitive advantage will come from any proprietary data they have that can give them a competitive edge. 

For large rights holding organizations—such as publishers, movie studios, record labels, pharmaceutical companies, and others with big IP (intellectual property) libraries—this advantage could potentially come from this back catalog of intellectual property. 

But for the majority of companies, the really unique data they have is their own customer data. If they can use that data correctly, AI should allow them to do a better job of market segmentation and then targeting those segments with much more personalized advertising and offers, and possibly, depending on the business, with more personalized products. 

Then the other kind of data that organizations have that might give them a competitive advantage is all the tacit knowledge that is not documented anywhere but exists in the minds and experience of their best performing employees—the people who are true experts and masters of their professional craft (be that sales or operations or legal work). 

Until now, there was no good way to turn that tacit knowledge into data that a company could use. But AI offers a way to potentially capture that tacit knowledge and turn it into data that AI can then process and use to help uplift the performance of workers across the organization. The only big question will be, how best to capture that data so that tacit knowledge can be extracted? The businesses that can figure this out first will have a competitive advantage over others. 

Question: How should a business leader incorporate thoughts of AI into his/her five-year planning? 

Kahn: Leaders need to start thinking now about how AI could potentially reshape the competitive landscape of their industry: 

  • How might it upend existing business models?
  • Are you ready for that shift?
  • How can you defend your business and position it to excel if AI does become the dominant technology platform in the next five years? 

For many leaders, they should begin experimenting with AI now and see what they can do with today's software. But they should also realize that the AI being used today will probably be the worst AI they will use. 

So, they need to project ahead and plan for AI that will be much more capable within five years. For most businesses, this means they should not train their own models but should instead look to buy from outside vendors. They should also try to architect the use of AI in their systems so they are not locked into a particular model or vendor over the long term but could potentially, in a modular way, slot in different models into that architecture. 

What they should definitely do is make sure they have a good handle on all of their data, make sure it is cleaned up, and make sure it is in a form that can easily be accessed by AI to perform useful tasks. That digital transformation is the fundamental foundation on which all else will be built.

___ 

Reading Mastering AI will improve your understanding of the technology (pros and cons), spur your imagination for what is possible, and encourage you to embrace what is necessary to keep AI at bay. 

Kahn is an award-winning journalist for Fortune magazine, where he covers artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. In addition to cover stories and features, he writes Fortune’s weekly Eye on AI newsletter and cochairs its Brainstorm AI technology conferences. 

Previously, he wrote about technology, including AI, for Bloomberg. His writing on a range of subjects has also appeared in The New York TimesNewsweekThe AtlanticSmithsonian magazine, The Boston GlobeThe New Republic, and Slate

Thank you to the book’s publisher for sending me an advance copy of the book.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How To Find The Job You Love

In 2024, I named Be The Unicorn: Data-driven Habits That Separate The Best Leaders From The Rest , by William Vanderbloemen , as the best new leadership book of that year.   The book is timely, incredibly practical, and immediately usable for any leader wherever they are on their leadership journey.   Through extensive research of more than 30,000 top leaders and proprietary data, Vanderbloemen identified in the book the twelve habits that the best of the best leaders have in common. These superstar leaders are the unicorns – highly desirable but that are difficult to find or obtain.   And now, Vanderbloemen followed up that gem of a book with another terrific book called, Work How You Are Wired: 12 Data-Driven Steps To Finding A Job You Love . It’s a great companion book to Be The Unicorn .   Those 12 steps align with these 12 personality traits/interpersonal habits: Fast Authentic Agile Solver Anticipator Prepared Self-aware Curious Connected Likeable Producti...

How To Master The Cycles Of Leadership: The Four Seasons

Whether you’re an aspiring leader, a newly appointed CEO, or a board member wanting to better steward your company’s performance, A CEO For All Seasons: Mastering The Cycles Of Leadership is the hands-on playbook you need – packed with practical, proven tips to help you navigate the four distinct phases of leadership.  “The journey of a CEO has a beginning, middle, and end, and the challenges leaders face early on are often far different than those midway through and near retirement, explain the authors of the book – Carolyn Dewar , Scott Keller , Vikram Malhotra, and Kurt Strovink .   “For us, the most apt analogy to describe these cycles is the four seasons of the year,” they add.  Spring : Stepping up - Preparing for the role. Summer : Transitioning into the role. Starting strong. Leading with impact. Fall : Navigating the middle years. Staying ahead. Sustaining momentum. Enhancing your learning. Future-proofing the organization. Winter : Transitioning out of the rol...

How To Align Sales And Marketing To Drive Company Success

Nearly 90 percent of startups will fail without ever reaching a point of positive return on investment. Founders and entrepreneurs are facing unprecedented challenges in pursuit of becoming one of the coveted 10 percent.   Who better to turn to for advice than the duo behind the most successful software IPO in history?   That is where Denise Persson and Chris Degnan come in, authors of the new book, Make It Snow .   During the nearly nine years they worked together at Snowflake, they built  one of the longest-running and most effective sales-marketing partnerships from the ground up, unifying  two historically divided groups in corporate America. Together, they took Snowflake from struggling startup to a tech powerhouse on par with Google and Amazon. Over the years, Snowflake surged to more than 9,000 employes and $3 billion in annual sales.   “Sales and marketing are often neglected in startups, with focus squarely placed on the engineerin...

How To Lead Bigger

Anne Chow ’s book,  Lead Bigger , is about “where it all comes together.” By that, she means: Being driven by a compelling purpose and values, which are not platitudes, but rather lived. The goals are better decisions, improved performance, and ultimately a greater impact. Impact means you have the power to make real and enduring change for the better. Widening your perspective to have a greater performance and impact. Advancing work that matters. Developing a vital, innovative workforce that is both trusted and agile. Championing flexibility by embracing trust and empowerment for individuals, teams, and leaders alike.   Drawing from over three decades of experience, former CEO of AT&T Business Chow shares that leading bigger also means:   Embracing the whole of your team beyond the workplace : Seeing the value and potential of each individual—in the context of not only their work, but also their life.   Engaging in self-reflection : Demonstrating self-awareness ...

How To Embrace And Learn From Failing

When you read the book,  Right Kind of Wrong: The Science Of Failing Well , you’ll gain a greater appreciation for the benefits that comes from failure, and how to embrace failure as part of your journey to achieving greater success.   Author  Amy Edmondson ’s book and revolutionary guide will undoubtedly transform your relationship with failure.   She defines  failure  as an outcome that deviates from desired results. Failure is a lack of success. Failure is different, explains Edmondson, from  errors  and  violations . “Errors (synonymous with mistakes) are unintended deviations from prespecified standards, such as procedures, rules, or policies. Violations occur when an individual intentionally deviates from the rules,” adds Edmondson.   After decades of award-winning research, Edmondson provides the framework to think, discuss, and practice failure wisely. Outlining the three archetypes of failure— basic ,  complex , and  i...

How To Achieve Transformational Success For Leaders

The book,   Reinventing the Leader ,  is an inspiring account of the magic that can happen when a leader realizes they must undergo their own transformation in order to transform their organization.  This candid and practical book by  Guilherme  ( Gui) Loureiro , Regional CEO overseeing Walmex, Walmart Canada, and Walmart Chile (now Chairman of the Board for Walmex and Regional CEO for Canada, Chile, Central America, and Mexico), and his executive leadership coach  Carlos Marin  shows how even the most successful leaders must be open to personal change in order to transform their company. The book details how the pair pioneered a data-driven, customer-centric business transformation at Walmex—Walmart’s biggest division outside of the United States. “This book is a blueprint for transformational success for leaders in any business who find themselves facing the need to retool their own company’s systems and operations and energize and inspire an entire ...

Debbie Laskey On Branding And Leadership

Image Credit: Freepik . For years, branding, marketing and leadership expert, Debbie, Laskey , has offered her insights, observations and tips to my blog readers. Today, Debbie joins us again to answer questions about branding and leadership. Debbie Laskey has nearly three decades of marketing experience and an MBA Degree. She developed her marketing expertise while working in the high-tech industry, the Consumer Marketing Department at Disneyland Paris in France, the nonprofit arena, and financial services and insurance sectors. Her expertise includes brand marketing, leadership development, and customer experience marketing. She is a regular contributor to several national blogs that provide insights about marketing and leadership, and she's been recognized as one of the "Top 50 Branding Experts" to follow on Twitter/X at @DebbieLaskeyMBA. Visit her website at www.BrandingAndMore.net and her blog at www.DebbieLaskeysBlog.com.   QUESTION: NBC has launched a new unscri...

Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders

The key takeaway from the book,   CEO Excellence: The Six Mindsets That Distinguish The Best Leaders From The Rest , is the best CEOs think and act differently than the rest across each of   six key CEO responsibilities , including:  Setting the direction  (vision, strategy, resource allocation) Aligning the organization  (culture, organization design, talent) Mobilizing through leaders  (composition, teamwork, operating rhythm) Engaging the board  (relationships, capabilities, meetings) Connecting with stakeholders  (social purpose, interaction, moments of truth) Managing personal effectiveness  (time and energy, leadership model, perspective)  Starting with a pool of more than 2,400 corporate leaders, McKinsey & Company senior partners and authors  Carolyn Dewar ,  Scott Keller , and  Vik Malhotra  extensively screened the group to identify the elite core, then sat down with 67 of them for multiple hours to talk...

How To See What’s Holding You Back As A Leader

What you don't see about yourself can hold you back as a leader. That's typical for many leaders. What we don't see is what we  can't  see: we have  blindspots . Your blindspots prevent you from achieving your greatest success.  “It turns out that we're often not great judges of ourselves, even when we think we are. Sometimes we're simply unaware of a behavior or trait that's causing problems,” explains Martin Dubin , author of the new book, Blindspotting: How To See What’s Holding You Back As A Leader . “Bottom line: until we uncover these blindspots, we can't move forward. The good news is that you can learn to do your own  blindspotting .”   “Most of us understand the idea of blindspots in a general sense—areas we can’t see, to take the term most literally, or places we have gaps that we may not even realize, to be a little more abstract,” says Dubin.  “But in the context of this book, I’m defining blindspots quite specifically: They are the par...

How To Build An Extreme Team

Extreme Teams  is a fascinating book by  Robert Bruce Shaw , where he takes you inside top companies and examines not just great teams (your more “conventional” teams), but extreme teams. According to Shaw,  extreme teams : View work as a calling —even an obsession. Value members’ cultural fit and ability  to collectively produce results. Pursue a limited set of vital priorities —less is more. Strive to create a culture that is at once both hard and soft  – simultaneously tough in driving for measurable results on a few highly visible targets and supportive of individuals to create an environment of collaboration, trust, and loyalty. Value conflict among team members —recognizing the benefit of being uncomfortable. Companies with extreme teams will go to great lengths to ensure that their extreme teams are well equipped to address not only the challenges of today, but also the challenges of the future.  The central questions to ask , therefore, are: What is...