3 Ways to Use AI Within Your Organization — Safely and Responsibly!

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Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November, I’ve been asking people in my executive workshops if they’re using generative AI tools.

Easily 80% of the audience raises their hands.

When I ask how many people use it on a weekly basis, a quarter of the hands are still in the air.?

That’s in line with the research: 41% of companies are evaluating open AI technologies and 12% plan to use it. (44% currently have no plans to check it out.)

There’s a significant amount of interest — in a short amount of time.?

So how can we make sure we’re proceeding safely? On Tuesday’s livestream, I shared how leaders can prepare their organizations to use these new generative AI tools responsibly.

Look for (and prioritize) opportunities

AI is creating a huge opportunity for organizations to reduce costs or grow into new markets.??

But everyone will have access to the same tools and be able to generate copy faster or review legal documents faster. Disruptive leaders need to go further. They need to think about where they can use these tools to gain a competitive advantage. Can you use AI to understand your customers better? Or reduce your time to market??

I recommend talking to your IT department and looking at your network traffic to gain an understanding of who’s using AI tools like ChatGPT in your organization — and how. Then, you can use that information as a starting point to identify strategic investments that will ultimately save you money and help you tap into bigger, better opportunities.

Prepare your people

There’s no doubt AI will have an impact on clerical tasks, like consolidating information, recognizing patterns, and creating first drafts of marketing, coding, legal, or financial documents.

As a leader, it’s your responsibility to get ahead of these impacts and prepare the employees currently in those roles. Have honest conversations with them. Reassure them. Let them know you’re considering the implications — on the human side and the workforce side.

A good starting point is redefining roles and expectations. Ask yourself, “Will we need fewer copywriters, administrative assistants, or coders? What does that mean for my team? How will their role change?”

You also need to evaluate if you have the right people on board to manage AI properly. Will you grow the skills in-house? Hire people to grow into those roles? And how will your operating model need to change to scale these tools? One key role to consider is a strategic AI lead, moving AI out of its traditional place in IT and into the C-Suite for greater visibility and connection to your strategic plan.?

Protect your assets

When you put information into an AI too like ChatGPT, it could potentially be incorporated into the data model. (Uh-oh!) Some states and countries have privacy protection laws, but you can’t rely on the AI interface to keep your information safe.?

And companies like Samsung recently ordered its staff to refrain from using ChatGPT after employees fed sensitive company information into the platform.?

One step to take is to manage your data within ChatGPT: Go to Settings and disable Chat History and Training (see below). This way, the information you share with ChatGPT won’t be used to train the data model. (But your chat history also won’t be saved).?

The safest approach is to create your own licensed version of ChatGPT using OpenAI’s APIs or to use services like Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service. This way, your data stays segmented and you can dictate how the data can — and can’t — be used. But these solutions require significant developer expertise and resources.?

One alternative is Jasper AI which supports many content creation use cases (including art and graphics) while protecting your data. You can also train the Jasper with your brand voice, product catalog, etc. so you don’t have to continually input it into the chat.?

It’s also important to train your employees to know what to data they can use and what to keep private. For example, you may not have the right to use customer data to develop your algorithms which means you might have to destroy the entire algorithm if the data use is challenged.?

This isn’t about stymieing work or creativity; it’s about oversight and creating policies and processes to ensure the responsible and ethical use of AI.

As leaders, we need to approach AI in a thoughtful, rational way. When we do, we can harness the power of these disruptive tools — even create new ones — that help our organizations, as well as our customers, communities, and societies.

Next week, I’ll share more about how to lead in the AI era, in particular how we need to show up differently because of the fast-changing nature of this space.? I hope you’ll join me on Tuesday, May 9 at 9 am PT for another fascinating look at AI in the context of leadership. See you then!

Your Turn

I’ve been doing research and conducting interviews to better understand how people are actually using AI. I’m curious how you’re thinking about it across these three dimensions: looking for opportunities, preparing for the impacts, and creating policies. What is your organization doing to prepare for the next generation of these AI tools? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!