Generative AI: The Gamechanger in Disguise

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is currently undergoing a transformative phase known as generative AI that is redefining business processes and functionality. This branch of AI, centered on creating new content, can range from writing unique texts and synthesizing realistic images to creating intricate simulations. However, as the future of digital transformation begins to take shape, a report by Publicis Sapients discloses a notable gap between the topmost executives—the C-suite—and the teams implementing the AI—the V-suite—in their perception and adoption patterns of generative AI. This gap in understanding and application could potentially hinder the full expression of generative AI’s potential.

Perceiving AI: A Mismatch between C-suite and V-suite

The report paints a stark contrast in how generative AI is viewed by the two major stakeholders within an organization. On one hand, the C-Suite aims at visible use cases such as enhancing user experience, sales, and service provisions, whereas the V-Suite perceives generative AI as a tool that can optimize operations across multiple functional areas like HR, finance, and operations.

Generative AI: An Unexplored Risk

The discrepancies in perception extend to risk comprehension too. While more than half of the C-level participants express heightened concern about the risk and ethical implications of generative AI compared to other emerging technologies, only 23% from the V-suite echos similar apprehensions. This discrepancy, as Simon James, Managing Director of Data & AI at Publicis Sapient, indicates, may extend from the C-suite’s attention to more abstract, large-scale potential threats in comparison to the V-suite.

The Quiet Revolution: Generative AI and Back-Office Functionality

The influence of generative AI, though unnoticed by many, is slowly but surely revolutionizing back-office functions. More than 50% of V-suite participants prioritize generative AI as extremely crucial in their operations and finance factions over the next three years compared to a smaller fraction from the C-suite. Despite this, the study reveals that many organizations lack a robust mechanism to measure the success of their generative AI initiatives, rendering the assessment of this transformative tool’s impact challenging.

Building Bridges: Recommendations for Maximal AI Utilization

The report advocates a portfolio-based approach to nurture innovation projects in fostering generative AI adoption to its full potential. By focusing on the delivery of projects, avoiding duplication, controlling shadow IT, the involvement of domain experts, bridging between business units and the CIO’s office, and engaging the risk office promptly is proposed. As Daniel Liebermann, Managing Director at Publicis Sapient, puts it, understanding the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot by internal team members is as difficult as tracking their internet use, underscoring the significance of the recommended steps.

The Future of AI: Bridging the Gaps and Beyond

The road ahead for the optimized utilization of generative AI lies largely in bridging the knowledge and perception gap between the C-suite and the V-suite. The future of business transformation depends on utilizing the power of a decentralized, bottom-up approach to innovation. Only by tearing down the silos and fostering cross-functional understanding and communication can organizations truly unlock and harness the full potential of generative AI, thereby paving the way to redefine existing paradigms of innovation and business in this digital age.