How AI will change our lives and what risks we need to consider

Hardly a day goes by without me being asked my opinion on the topic of Artificial Intelligence AI. What are the implications, how will Generative AI influence our working world and our business processes. And how will the new technology change our society.

According to the market research company Gartner, the topic of "generative AI" - the "latest generation of artificial intelligence" - has now reached the peak of media hype.

The most important thing right at the beginning: artificial intelligence has been a reality for years. And AI is here to stay, influencing our lives more and more. That is a fact. And now we can put the hype of the last few months to one side and look at the topic with a little distance.

The risks cannot be explained away

AI is already performing amazing feats in our everyday lives. For example, in the recognition of road users or traffic signs in the field of autonomous driving. Or in customer service in the use of helpful bots to give customers the information they need more quickly. In clear, predictable, and less complex environments, we are already entrusting technology with essential things.

The latest generation of AI, so-called generative AI, is trained on huge amounts of data, for example from the internet, and create new, creative, and unique content from it. Five key factors have made this technological advancement possible:

• A new architecture for natural language processing
• Larger and more efficient models
• More data to be processed
• More computing power
• Ease of use, versatility and availability of the applications

ChatGPT & Co don't understand what they are doing.

But what does this mean in concrete terms for companies and for us as a society? Let's start with the critical points: First, we have to be aware of the risks. All these models work with complex probability calculations: Which letter is likely to come after an "a". So ChatGPT & Co do not "understand" what they generate. In my opinion, this results in three points that need to be considered in the further discussion:

• Ethical issues: generative AI is able to artificially create and modify images, videos and speech of real people. For third parties, the authenticity of content is therefore hardly recognizable. Questions of data protection law and, above all, personality protection must be clarified to ensure a trustworthy handling of the technology. The AI Act of the European Union, which has just been passed, attempts to clarify these questions, at least to some extent. However, as the technological possibilities advance, further adjustments will have to be made here as well.
• Copyright issues: The current hotly courted AI applications generate new content from existing content such as texts, photos, videos, software programming. They aggregate in a fascinating way, but do not reinvent anything. This raises the question of who owns the copyrights to the artificially generated content. And what compensation should be paid to the people whose content serves as the basis for the AI applications.
• Security: For companies, the particularly sensitive question is what happens to my data that is processed by AI applications. After all, the more reliably and efficiently business processes are to be supported, the more - confidential - company data must be linked. But the question of security goes far beyond that. Because the new tools enable cyber-attacks with highly personalized phishing emails or with the use of known voices.

However, the opportunities of artificial intelligence are enormous

So much for the risks that should already be considered today when using generative AI. But let's move on to the positive sides. Because AI offers great opportunities here - for companies as well as for us as part of society.?

In fields of activity such as product design, software development, marketing, customer service, medicine or even in law, generative AI tools can create more efficiency. In other words, especially where clearly delineated, highly personalized, repetitive, or even highly analytical tasks arise. The upheavals could be quite rapid and extensive in some cases. For example: some analysts predict that Generative AI will be responsible for 30% of generated marketing content in 2025. By comparison: In 2022, this figure was less than 2%.

Generative AI can help cushion the impact of the skills shortage.

Of course, this development has an impact on our working world - and thus on our social fabric. But in my opinion, the discussion in recent months has been highly emotional. The introduction of generative AI in corporate processes requires high investments and the conversion of entire business processes. It can therefore be assumed that the development will be gradual. Although perhaps more quickly than with the implementation of other technologies.

However: As I mentioned in one of my Linkedin newsletter , our society today is highly characterized by a shortage of skilled workers. At Swisscom alone, we have 200-300 vacancies. Every month. I am confident that we will not run out of work in the future using AI. Rather, we can focus on tasks that actually "create" new things. And eliminating repetitive tasks gives us time to generate real value for our customers.

Benefits also for society and for us as human beings

Also, I would like to address two other topics where generative AI can help solve the big problems of our time. For example, AI can support medical research by analyzing large amounts of data for patterns and linking them. AI can play an important role in diagnoses and in the personalization of treatments and dosages.

AI can also play an important role in a topic that is particularly close to my heart: environmental protection. Solutions today often fail because the sheer volume of environmental data cannot be sifted, analyzed and evaluated. If we get a clearer view of things, we can identify those levers with which we can efficiently and above all effectively protect our environment and thus our living environment. Furthermore, AI can help design new solutions that help solve or reduce environmental issues. ?

So, the latest generation of artificial intelligence brings some risks that we need to consider. But also, many benefits for us, our economy and our society. I am positive about the future.

What do you think? What do you think are the biggest advantages and risks? I look forward to your comments.

Interested in more information about AI? Swisscom has published a white paper on this topic. You can find it on the Swisscom website: Generative AI: background and implications for businesses

Link Gartner’s press release: Gartner Places Generative AI on the Peak of Inflated Expectations on the 2023 Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies

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Christoph Aeschlimann, CEO Swisscom. I am passionate about the latest technologies such as 5G, cloud, AI and everything to do with software. Because they have a massive influence on how our society and our interaction with the environment develop. I am also fascinated by modern forms of collaboration and how they challenge us as leaders.?