Irish businesses need to gain a proper understanding of and upskill their staff in artificial intelligence (AI) before they can unlock its value, an expert in the technologies has told business leaders in Dublin.
Speaking at Ibec headquarters, London Business School Professor of Management Sciences and Operations Nicos Savva said investments in AI would yield “little return” without a strategic grounding and understanding, resulting in “disillusionment”.
More than 30 senior business leaders attended two days of talks to discuss areas such as business process re-engineering, understanding the principles of responsible AI, and its ethical implications, the strategic alignment of AI and business modernisation.
Also discussed was the use of the many popular tools such as Co-pilot, ChatGPT, Sonnet 3.5 and the underlying technology of LLMs, data science and risk mitigation.
In his speech to attendees, Savva said: “Merely implementing AI technologies without strategic integration and proper understanding can lead to substantial investments with little return, potentially resulting in the trough of disillusionment.
“The real value will come from finding clever ways to integrate the technology in our everyday workflows and leveraging the technology competently.”
Marie Hunt, director of Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet, which co-hosted the event with the London Business School, said: “Our goal, in the Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet, is to bridge the gap between recognizing AI’s potential and actually implementing it effectively.
“That means that organisations need to have the right skills, capabilities and strategies to realise business value in terms of innovation, productivity and speed.
“While the technology is still developing rapidly, forward-looking companies have already completed the experimentation phase and are now proceeding to full deployment across key business functions. But a significant process of AI upskilling at scale is required.”
Una Fitzpatrick, director of Technology Ireland, which has carried out significant work on the legislative framework for AI said: “Informed leadership is crucial in harnessing the power of transformative technologies.
“We want to ensure that business leaders are prepared to navigate the AI revolution, turning potential into real sustainable value for their organisations, and applying responsible AI frameworks in their companies.”
The Technology Ireland Digital Skillnet will be launching a suite of programmes to address the needs of different groups within companies from business AI users, technical leaders and teams, data scientists and strategic leaders creating business ready applications.
Photo: (l-r) Una Fitzpatrick; Erik O’Donovan, head of digital economic policy, Ibec; Maura Hunt, network director, the Technology Ireland Digital Skillnetl and Professor Nicos Savva. (Pic: Julien Behal)
