Meet Your New Competition: Artificial intelligence
Did you know that artificial intelligence can create a presentation TEN TIMES faster than you can? That’s right; artificial intelligence is the next BIG thing and change management practitioners need to get ready for it. AI can be defined as computer systems that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. We met with Andrew Butow, founder of CEO of Earth2Mars and early adopter of generative artificial intelligence in his practice, to understand more about AI and what change management experts need to know.
One of our greatest technologies has been hacked by AI: language. Most change management methodology is bound by language and AI is now able to comprehend our language. AI can listen and talk to you and more importantly, AI can generate something from that discussion. ChatGPT, a natural language processing tool driven by AI, can already create humanlike answers. It can also generate communications, create workshops, and design training. AI has generated all kinds of buzz—some excitement mixed with fear. So, what do you need to know?
First, how Artificial Intelligence was introduced
First came the internet, then social media, next was cloud technology, and now AI is the next big thing. In fact, artificial intelligence has already been introduced—think Siri and Google Assistant. This form of AI is called artificial narrow intelligence. The next thing we’ll see is automated general intelligence. This form of AI can do things that humans can do now: sensing, comprehending, and generating or creating content. A good example is Deepfake AI. This technology can create artificial photos, audio, and video which have been used for hoaxes but also for legitimate uses such as video games, customer service, and even for change management deliverables including communications, presentations, and more.
How will AI impact corporate America?
We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge that some jobs will be replaced by artificial intelligence. However! AI will create jobs too. Just like when the internet, social media, and cloud technology were introduced, jobs will follow. If companies aren’t already innovating with AI, they should get on board, or they’ll likely be left in the dust (see Blockbuster and Blackberry).
Ok, so what do change management practitioners need to do to prepare for AI?
Understand how AI works. Know that AI can understand us and create things. It's almost like a new recruit who's going to try to impress you and give you the perfect answer. But the reality is, AI lacks a lot of context, human awkwardness, imperfections, and vulnerability that we all love. Change management practitioners need to avoid being fooled by AI as well. Just because the answer sounds perfect and we’re used to assuming that because a computer said it, it must be true, AI can lie to you. AI can make up case studies so important for change managers to be critical thinkers, now more than ever.
Acknowledge the fear but celebrate the excitement. Change management practitioners have a huge role to play with AI, not just in upskilling ourselves and embracing this change as leaders of change, but helping other people make sense of it. OCM consultants can be aware of the fear, but also reframe the fear into opportunities. Can AI mimic me? Yes. But can AI stand in front of an audience and connect with people? Probably not. Here's the exciting thing for change managers: Can AI turn that presentation into a Japanese version of it? Yes! Can AI change that content and make it into something simpler, like a blog post? Yes!
Brace yourselves for an accelerated world of change. AI means novel ideas can happen very quickly. Now more than ever, change management consultants need to prepare ourselves and others for rapid-fire change and find ways to minimize change fatigue.
Know that AI can help with time-consuming tasks. AI can look at large amounts of data and stitch things together and make sense of it in a way that humans cannot. A lot of the boring stuff in OCM, like documenting workshop notes, can be captured by AI to allow OCM consultants to focus more on leading people through change. Another example of how AI can help is if you’re stuck and need creativity. AI can serve as a great sounding board to get ideas flowing. Andrew shared that when people take his ChatGPT in Change course, their minds are blown by how quickly they can create or co-create something using artificial intelligence.
Recognize the need for the human touch. Humans are great at collaborating, ideating, and empathy. When we’re born, humans learn what’s right and wrong and good verses bad; we gain an intuitive understanding of ethics. Then we go to school and learn how to process information, think logically, scientifically, and mathematically. AI has learned the opposite way. It's learned everything through numbers, patterns, and logic. But AI has a lot to learn about ethics, and what's right for people. The intersection between humanity and machine becomes more important as AI starts generating content and making decisions. As an example, COMPAS, an AI tool that the U.S. justice system uses, predicts the likelihood of someone committing more crimes with so much bias that some people who committed petty crimes are marked as having a high probability of committing more crimes. A lot of the bias was based on race or gender. This is a prime example of when AI needs human interference. Change management practitioners need to be mindful that just because an AI algorithm can make decisions about hiring and firing people, it doesn't mean that it should. Since AI looks at pure data, change management experts should act as custodians of people within an organization.
The good news is, if AI is readily available, going to a real doctor or having a real change manager will become a novelty. Perhaps the human touch will allow change managers to add more value and increase our worth. But if we don't embrace AI, the people that are using AI will and jobs will follow them. When it comes to OCM and AI, our role in change will be using critical thinking and providing human context. People respond to human stories, and that's where there's less to fear because our humanity might even become a premium product.
Contact ChangeStaffing to learn more about artificial intelligence and how change management practitioners can be prepared for the changes to come!
A very special thank you to Andrew Butow, for his thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog. To take the two-hour “Revolutionize your Change Management Skills with ChatGPT” course on October 17, 2023, please visit this link: ChatGPT in Change Course.
Written by Kylette Harrison