I must have been about 7 or 8 years old when I saw Episode IV of the Star Wars saga for the first time, somewhere in the early 1980s, which is in fact the first of the sequel films.
The medium used was a VHS tape that automatically disappeared in our recorder and started playing after pressing the ‘Play’ key – a sophistication at the time. I must have watched that tape dozens of times, to the point where, during the last few viewings, I had already ‘rained’ on some parts of the film.
The title was evocative: ‘A New Hope’ and the film transported me beyond the universe of lightsabers and Jedi ethics, to a future of hyperspace travel, galactic fighters, clones, touch screens, computers that spoke in natural language and had access to inexhaustible sources of information.
Today I found myself thinking about how far we’ve come since the 80s. Not only is it much more convenient to watch films on-demand, we have animal cloning, this PC of mine is touch, Elon Musk started the private space age and… we speak in natural language with machines on a daily basis.
On this last point, I have to say that my last few weeks have been particularly fun since Microsoft Copilot was installed across the board at the firm level.
It works as an Artificial Intelligence plug-in in the various Office applications and, like ChatGPT, we exchange messages and instructions via prompt and generate presentations, documents or analyses in Excel with this assistant or co-pilot.
One trend we have seen is the creation of transformation laboratories where solutions and use cases based on Artificial Intelligence are tested and refined to address specific issues such as operational optimisation…
In a first experiment, I typed into the Powerpoint prompt ‘Create a presentation on the history of Mozambique’. He plugged in a steamroller and, within seconds, I had a presentation ready with aspects ranging from the first inhabitants and ancient civilisations to more contemporary aspects. Oh, and it was already enriched with images, paginated and structured. In short, a good basis for not starting from scratch, either in researching or editing the presentation.
And we continued talking… ‘Focus the presentation on the contemporary period’ and ‘improve the quality of the images’. Again the steamroller, and new versions of the presentation. As with anyone, you have to learn to speak and give instructions – results improve with better prompts.
The experience with the other Office tools has also been very interesting. From extracting key messages from endless strings of emails, to summarising large documents that I would hardly have time to read.
The massive use of tools like this really does give organisations ‘New Hope’, both in terms of efficiency gains and access to previously dispersed knowledge, as well as catalysing fundamental changes, not only in the business, but also in operating models.
This type of AI (Artificial Intelligence) transformation will have an impact on all areas of organisations. That’s why having a vision on this subject and involving the right leaders is key to getting buy-in and adoption during implementations.
One trend we have seen is the creation of transformation labs where Artificial Intelligence-based solutions and use cases are tested and refined to address (for example) specific issues such as operational optimisation, energy efficiency, customer experience, sustainability, monitoring and control and risk management.
This environment allows prototypes to be implemented and proofs of concept to be carried out, ensuring that the proposed solutions are adapted to the needs of organisations and can be successfully scaled up.
In addition, these labs facilitate collaboration between different departments within the organisation, promoting an integrated and holistic approach to innovation and continuous improvement.
The selection of use cases to be ‘prototyped’ requires a detailed analysis centred on cost, impact and value, with the aim of demonstrating feasibility and return.
The adoption of Artificial Intelligence requires the implementation of certain guidelines
But let’s not forget that the accelerated adoption of AI requires organisations to adopt responsible AI practices. This includes controls to assess the potential risk of AI use cases and a means to embed responsible AI approaches throughout the organisation. Although most organisations recognise the importance of responsible AI, many have yet to implement the necessary guidelines.
These are essential questions: where is AI integrated into the organisation? What data feeds AI? How can we make AI safe and reliable? Are we compliant with AI regulations? How are ethical principles incorporated into AI?
Instead of asking ‘how do we ensure that risk is managed and regulation complied with when implementing an AI solution?’, organisations should ask ‘how should our governance framework evolve to ensure success in an AI-driven world?’.
Notwithstanding these governance issues, the risks and the underlying ethical aspects, AI and these tools that are already available in the software we use most in business do indeed open up a ‘New Hope’.
Who knows, maybe a 7 or 8 year old Mozambican kid is watching a film today that makes him dream of a future and a new normal that, after all, just like me, won’t be so far away… but this time, for sure, in a galaxy far, far away.
