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CCI Perspectives

From Hype to Reality: Practical Steps to Leverage AI

Ever wondered how AI can enhance your daily tasks? Imagine having a virtual assistant boosting your productivity and creativity. With the flood of news and offers about AI, how do you separate the hype from the practical applications? Is it safe and compliant to use at work? Are there guidelines to follow? Given the unprecedented use of generative AI – ChatGPT had 100 million users two months after launch compared to the nearly five years it took Twitter and Facebook to reach this milestone – we are all trying to catch up to this powerful, rapidly evolving technology, and there are more questions than answers.

Introducing the Center for Collaborative Intelligence (CCI)

CCI was formed to address these concerns. We believe AI will have a faster and greater impact on humanity than all previous technologies, and it’s crucial to help people and organizations ask the right questions and find practical solutions in this exciting, yet sometimes overwhelming, new reality.

Generative AI, like electricity or the internet, is a general-purpose technology available to everyone. But what are the most beneficial applications? How can we keep up with its capabilities? Will AI replace jobs or create new opportunities? The fundamental question is uniquely personal: how can I use this new technology to improve my life?

We have two years of generative AI experimentation to learn from – both the best and emerging practices and the risks and failures to avoid. There are many unknowns, but by learning from each other we can navigate this new landscape.

We leverage best and emerging practices to promote the responsible integration of AI in workplaces and institutions, ensuring AI supports rather than replaces human effort by:

CCI’s Four-Stage AI Readiness and Maturity Roadmap

CCI believes that AI will likely follow other technology curves – greater hype than reality in the short term and greater impact than projected in the long term. CCI’s four-stage approach provides guideposts along the way:

  1. INFORM:
    • Understand AI and generative AI.
    • Explore current and future applications.
    • Follow safe, responsible AI guidelines.
    • Stay updated on technological advances.
  2. ALIGN:
    • Assess AI’s relevance to you and your organization.
    • Leverage AI for business strategy and goals.
    • Redesign jobs and skills to fit your culture.
    • Establish AI governance.
  3. ENABLE:
    • Implement necessary technology and security.
    • Enable AI usage across the organization.
    • Create governance and usage rules.
    • Address employee concerns and facilitate knowledge sharing.
  4. PERFORM:
    • Prioritize AI initiatives.
    • Measure ROI and ensure success.
    • Use AI to improve specific areas.
    • Report AI impact and ensure responsible usage.

Where to Begin

Starting with AI can be daunting. Here are some practical steps:

For Individuals

  1. Orient yourself:
    • Use CCI’s AI Job Impact Assessment to explore AI’s impact on jobs through augmentation, automation, and emerging skill requirements.
  2. Stay informed:
  3. Network with peers:
    • Join our CCI community on LinkedIn to connect, collaborate, and learn with others.
  4. Develop skills:
    • The best way to develop is through practice. Use CCI tools, co-pilots, and guides to incorporate AI into your daily tasks. Go deeper with CCI courses for foundational and specialized knowledge, leading to certifications.

For Organization and Department Leaders

  1. Orient yourself:
    • Use CCI’s Organization AI Opportunity Assessment to quickly identify the overall impact potential and use cases.
  2. Assess readiness:
      • Use our AI Organization Maturity Assessment coming early July to identify your readiness, key gaps, and priorities across the six pillars for successfully adopting AI.
  3. Hold a briefing:
    • Set up a session with CCI for tailored recommendations on where and how to begin.
  4. Stay informed:
  5. Provide resources:

For Service Providers

  1. Expand your value:
    • Take the CCI assessments to find opportunities and starting points for how AI can benefit your clients.
  2. Develop a plan:
    • Schedule a CCI briefing for ideas and recommendations on getting started and creating your AI strategy.
  3. Ramp up expertise:
    • Leverage CCI tools, guides, and data from our Knowledge Hub. Create a customized AI feed and training to enable your organization.
  4. Build solutions:
    • AI-empower your existing services and add complementary solutions through white labeling CCI services or customizing new solutions.

Join CCI to Learn, Grow, and Perform Together

For all of us, the most important thing is to begin and stay in motion on our AI journey. Ready to embark? Get started with our assessments and resources. Join our community and take the first step towards transforming your role, your organization, and your future with AI.