2024 will be the year where AI transcends new boundaries for the workforce

As we approached the end of 2023 we held a firm-wide event to explore what we can expect of AI in 2024. Panellists included PA Consulting's Global Head of AI, Alwin Magimay, myself as PA's Human Centred AI Lead, and special guest, Dr. Mark Kennedy, Director of the Data Science Institute at Imperial College London.?

I wanted to share some of the key takeaways from the event including:

Generative AI tools are already reshaping the possibilities of our digital landscape and revolutionising how we govern and do business. Beyond repetitive and predictable tasks, activities previously thought to require exclusive human creativity are now being delivered at a speed and scale never previously imagined. ?

As we move into 2024 we need to recognise the main ways in which AI will disrupt human workflows. As a panel we saw this taking three main forms:

• Automated Intelligence. AI applications that are used to automate tasks, substituting directly for human labour. Examples include the ability to automatically capture accurate voice to text data entry, rather than requiring people to re-enter such data on a device. The panel's view is that while this is a major focus area for organisations at the moment and that many knowledge worker tasks will be automated, jobs will be disrupted rather than 'lost'.
• Augmented Intelligence. AI which is used to make humans more productive at what they currently do, to improve quality and obtain efficiencies. For instance, the use of increasingly real-time and more sophisticated decision-support tools to coach and advise people through different scenarios.?
• Additive Intelligence. This final area of disruption looks at where AI can enable people to deliver distinctly new tasks or knowledge services previously not possible. For example, the possibility of large frontline workforces being equipped with the intelligence to perform advanced knowledge-based tasks they have not been highly trained on. This is an area organisations are not thinking as much about yet, but as more tasks are automated or streamlined we will increasingly see a shift to focusing on where workforces can add value with the time saved from automation. ?

We also discussed how to approach AI in 2024.

In most conversations so far AI has been anthropomorphised, whereas AI isn't actually human. It's much more like a one-cell animal, essentially making predictions. Collectively we need to not only help humans become more comfortable with AI but also make AI more amenable to human management. Most of the current problems that come with the use of AI also occur with people, such as hallucinations and biases. We already have toolkits for this in the workplace in management, governance, and auditing we need to review and continuously update in 2024.

While the speed of AI development does raise concerns for me, at this moment in time these are mainly around misuse, whether intentional or accidental. Overall I am optimistic that, with the genie out of the bottle in terms of commoditised and open source AI technology, these tools offer a real opportunity for us to improve productivity and the work experience for many. Next year leaders need to develop their knowledge of the art of the possible, set a strategic workforce vision, promote a responsible culture of innovation, and build the skills they need across their teams to make their AI transformation real.

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At PA Consulting we help companies on their journey towards an Intelligent Enterprise. Our breadth of AI capabilities and experience allow our clients to imagine, design and scale AI solutions to achieve organisational objectives while taking a human-centred AI approach by focusing on how to best augment and extend the capabilities of the workforce.