If AI was a hit new toy in 2023, 2024 will cement it as a tool.
AI, or artificial intelligence, grabbed the attention of every industry in 2023, creating hope for easier, more streamlined work processes and stoking fear that the technology could advance enough to replace employees.

While the technology world wrapped itself around the possibilities of AI this year, the business world is getting ready to put it to use and test just how much it will change the world beyond cheating on college essays.

Business leaders, from the airlines to commercial real estate, have been quick to tout the potentially game-changing uses of AI. Government leaders are pushing to create guidelines for how and when AI should be used.

Regardless of how you feel about it, AI isn’t going anywhere in 2024; Experts say it’ll only become more commonplace for companies to implement a number of AI programs to use in day-to-day business.

The AI umbrella encompasses tools that range from large language models like ChatGPT to programs that direct autonomous vehicles. A type of AI that’s useful to one industry might not be useful to another, but nearly all sectors are looking to find the niche AI can fill in their own work. Around 94% of business leaders said AI is critical to success in the next five years, according to a Deloitte report.

In health care, a model could take existing patient data to predict how a disease will progress or how likely someone is to receive a certain diagnosis. In the public services sector, machine learning algorithms could evaluate the risk of housing or food insecurity.

With every technology comes risks, something AI has no shortage of. General Motors recalled its Cruise autonomous vehicles in November after one of them dragged a pedestrian to the side of a San Francisco street. Tesla issued its largest recall ever this month after a regulator determined the company’s driver-assistance system didn’t effectively guard against misuse. A number of news organizations have tried ChatGPT with mixed results.

Manufacturing-based industries like aerospace, automotives and electronics are less likely to be impacted than industries like banking, pharmaceuticals and education because of generative AI’s strengths in language activities over physical labor, according to a McKinsey & Co. report.

The need for humans to train and check AI models is also a reassurance that the technology won’t render workers obsolete, although employees will have to adapt to working alongside AI. Such tools are only useful if companies train their workforce on how to use them efficiently.

“We’ve truly entered that era where you need to be a lifelong learner. These technologies are going to keep coming at us faster,” said Beena Ammanath, executive director of the Deloitte AI Institute. “It is no longer about just doing the once-a-year or when-you-join training and then you’re done.”

Tribune News Service