70% of executives believe that generative AI will enable organisations to widen the scope of the roles of knowledge workers, with nearly all executives (96%) recognising generative AI as a key topic in the boardroom, with the majority confirming that their leadership are strong advocates, according to a new report released by the Capgemini Research Institute.
The report, ‘Harnessing the value of generative AI: Top use cases across industries’, also revealed that almost three-quarters (74%) of executives believe that the benefits posed by generative AI outweigh the associated concerns, despite risks, such as copyright infringement or cybersecurity.
While one in five (21%) anticipate a disruption in their industries, 40% of organisations across industries have already established teams and budget for the technology, with a further 49% contemplating doing so within 12 months.
Organisations believe that the most relevant generative AI based platforms or tools for their industries are chatbots for automating customer service and improving knowledge management (83%) and designing, collecting, or summarising data (75%). Most executives believe that generative AI will make product and service design more efficient (78%) and accessible (76%).
Within three years’ time, and following the successful implementation of generative AI, executives foresee a range of benefits, leading to an 8% increase in sales and a 7% decrease in costs. Alongside this, those surveyed indicated that they could expect to see a 9% improvement in both customer engagement and satisfaction, as well as operational efficiency.
“Generative AI is a transformational force for innovation in organisations, accelerating industry specific use cases to create value, and it’s no surprise that it’s already at the top of the agenda of virtually every large organisation,” Capgemini chief portfolio officer and group executive board member, Franck Greverie said.
“While generative AI can enable numerous benefits for businesses and employees alike, adopting a human-centric approach while scaling the technology and implementing necessary guidelines will be key to fostering trust in the workplace. As businesses accelerate their generative AI journeys, they must prioritise implementing it sustainably across the organisation.”
The majority (67%) of executives across sectors see the most potential for generative AI in the IT function – this is particularly true within the high-tech sector which holds the largest percentage of executives (86%) saying their organisation is using or plans to use generative AI in IT. Other areas where executives see generative AI driving value are sales (54%), and marketing and communications (48%).
According to 69% of businesses, generative AI will begin to provide concepts and initial designs for projects and, as such, employees’ roles will shift away from ideation and creation, to review and refinement.