Democratizing AI with digital adoption platforms

More quickly even than the internet, generative AI has become a core technology that is shaping our immediate workplace reality and longer-term future.

Its poster child, natural language wiz ChatGPT, is one of the fastest growing apps in history, now featuring Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4, or simply GPT-4, which is so smart it recently passed the uniform bar exam in the 90th percentile. Some companies offering savvy copy-writing and code-writing assistance solutions have already combined the power of GPT-4 with other AI models and tools to deliver specialization and business value.

While the fascination with ChatGPT has quickly made its way into every place of work, the fact remains that AI is not new to the workplace. Employees at large enterprises today are using on average 211 applications, many of which are powered by AI technology—from transcript generation of virtual meetings to tech support chatbots, and from parsing candidates’ resumes to driving user adoption of technology. But no matter what form of AI that’s used in the workplace, an often overlooked aspect is the role played by human beings.

What many may not know about AI is that human oversight is critical—and always will be. While it is true that some roles could be replaced by AI, what we are seeing is more of a shifting of skills and responsibilities, meaning humans must adapt or incorporate AI into their roles. People should be less concerned with AI replacing them and more focused on keeping up with the pace of change that is already upon us. The question now becomes, “How?”

Harness AI with AI

Taking the workplace by storm, companies have found themselves unsure how to manage generative AI. Embracing it for business could mean incredible advances in productivity, creativity, and innovation, but also poses security risks due to employees inadvertently revealing sensitive personal or confidential company information to these applications.

Often without policies, procedures, or even training, companies are building applications and individuals are coming up with creative ways to make use of GPT-4’s profound textual fluency. Some companies are building robust guardrails and filters that can help mitigate pressing ethical and practical concerns, while individual employees are using publicly available AI technology to increase their own productivity at truly remarkable rates. There is no denying the AI frenzy we find ourselves in, but there’s also an incredible opportunity for individuals to learn how to use these new AI technologies to benefit their careers and their organizations.

As with all new technology in the workplace—be it a version update or new applications—there is a learning curve for employees. To address this, thousands of forward-thinking enterprises are using AI-powered digital adoption platforms, or DAPs, which are advanced solutions that facilitate seamless interaction between users and digital applications, running on top of applications. DAPs learn widespread application usage patterns, as well as specific company environments and employee behaviors, to automate tasks and give employees direct, instant guidance. DAPs can level the playing field for employees across the wide range of digital dexterities in today’s workplace and enable everyone to benefit from the many advantages AI technologies provide employees. 

By understanding the application user interfaces and human-computer interactions across a tech stack, DAPs automatically navigate a business process and, given the end user’s permission, can take action on behalf of a worker and perform requested tasks. DAPs also identify areas in the workflow that cause digital friction or are inefficient, providing organizations with actionable insights for process improvement.

DAPs walk employees through workflows in real time, improving the user experience, while improving efficiency. With this technology on top of their most commonly used workplace applications, employees don’t need to learn and stay on top of the myriad different user interfaces they need to do their jobs. DAPs close the gap between what advanced technology promises and what is actually put into action by employees.

Helping workers adapt and evolve

Questions always loom with extraordinary new technologies—from nuclear power to the internet to the cloud-enabled mobile supercomputers in our pockets. Technology advances invariably bring disruption and skepticism, but humans adapt and evolve. Will generative AI, like GPT-4 applications, replace humans in the workplace?

No. Rather, generative AI will help humans solve problems faster and discover new modes of work and creation. AI can enhance the capabilities of software engineers by automating repetitive code, instantly converting code from one format to another, or generating test fixture data. It can aid creatives and researchers by synthesizing existing research and generating diverse prompts. AI can help establish robust AI ethics and even improve the safety of construction workers.

The dynamic duo of humans and AI will boost efficiency, productivity, and innovation beyond what we can currently comprehend. The fear that AI will replace doctors, for example, is hyperbolic, as AI is already making doctors better at treating conditions and saving lives. AI is being used today to decrease infant and maternal mortality rates by interpreting fetal heart rate and cardiotocography to aid in the detection of preterm labor and pregnancy complications, and to review discrepancies in its interpretation between clinicians. Clearly, doctors are not being removed from the equation.

The human experience at work will be better because of AI, even if day-to-day work may change. Generative AI will empower engineers to produce more innovative code, more quickly. Creatives will conduct their research, expand and refine their thinking, and develop data-driven proposals informed by GPT-4, automation, and integrations, while exercising their talent and discernment to ensure the quality of iteration and end products. The human-AI relationship will mutually protect against single points of failure and lead to as yet unmapped, even unimaginable, innovation.

Uzi Dvir is chief information officer at WalkMe, where he aligns the company’s information technology strategies with its business goals. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in computer science and mathematics from Bar Ilan University.

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Generative AI Insights provides a venue for technology leaders—including vendors and other outside contributors—to explore and discuss the challenges and opportunities of generative artificial intelligence. The selection is wide-ranging, from technology deep dives to case studies to expert opinion, but also subjective, based on our judgment of which topics and treatments will best serve InfoWorld’s technically sophisticated audience. InfoWorld does not accept marketing collateral for publication and reserves the right to edit all contributed content. Contact doug_dineley@foundryco.com.