Artificial intelligence (AI), especially the subset of the technology known as generative AI (GenAI), has spent recent months on a rapid upward trajectory. As AI solutions become simultaneously more powerful and more widely available, they're shaping companies' strategies in a variety of ways. In a relatively short time, knowledge of AI has become a vital business leadership skill.
To stay competitive within their respective fields, leaders will have to update their thinking around AI's potential, while also refreshing their strategic approach often as new AI solution use cases emerge. They will also need to show discernment, telling between true AI value propositions and ones primarily driven by hype.
Some companies will remain too tethered to legacy technology. Others will waste money pursuing non-strategic AI implementation initiatives. The most effective businesses, however, will be the ones that find a middle path, putting AI toward achieving their core goals.
Learn about generative AI's growing role in knowledge work.
What is AI and what is its business importance?
AI is a name that has been applied to several different systems and technology types in recent years, grouped around the basic concept of studying massive data sets. Major categories with relevance for business AI users include:
Generative AI (GenAI) and large language models (LLM): Designed to synthesize novel output in text, images, audio and other formats, these AI model types draw on enormous training data sets to respond to user prompts.
Machine learning (ML), deep learning and advanced analytics: These powerful business intelligence algorithms can interpret large, diverse amalgamations of data to produce actionable insights.
While AI model-powered analytics systems have been in fairly regular use for years, as have older GenAI utilities such as customer service chatbots, the latest generation of technology has brought on new possibilities for businesses. This is where competitive advantage may be won and lost, as some organizations will adopt new tech tools more quickly than others.
The expert faculty members behind the MIT Sloan Executive Education course Frontiers of Generative AI in Business have highlighted some of these cutting-edge applications for AI technology. They have observed AI algorithm use for:
- Optimization of operations relative to fully manual processes.
- Streamlining of workflows, freeing up employees' time and attention.
- Customization of service technology for an improved customer experience.
Some organizations will integrate AI tools into their existing workflows, automating some manual tasks by employing powerful new GenAI algorithms. Others will inevitably be inspired by AI's ability to enact more complex calculations than legacy systems were capable of, developing new business models and product launches that depend upon these digital utilities.
Some of the revolutionary business ideas set to come from AI usage haven't been developed yet, because AI technology is in a constant state of growth and flux. This is why the MIT Sloan Executive Education professors teach participants in their courses what to expect next. Just because an AI utility doesn't exist today, that doesn't mean it won't emerge soon.
Discover an expert formula for driving innovation in AI-powered organizations, developed by an MIT Sloan Executive Education Executive Certificate holder.
Challenges and opportunities of implementing AI in business
Business leaders across industries are accepting the challenge of learning AI skills on a short timeline. They're making this effort because, when implemented effectively, these powerful new systems can have widespread benefits.
Notable advantages of a well-managed AI implementation include:
- More decisive and in-depth analytical insights, based on large and varied data sets that would be impossible for legacy business intelligence systems to parse.
- Quicker, more decisive decision-making input, with the ability to turn natural-language queries into useful output via GenAI.
- Optimized customer care experiences, enabled by fast and accurate customized responses.
- Productivity benefits, at both individual and institutional levels, powered by highly effective automation functionality.
Of course, even the most exciting and potentially powerful technology comes with challenges, drawbacks and barriers to overcome. Finding a way to avoid these complications is what separates effective users from their less effective competitors.
Challenges for AI users to overcome include:
- A need to comprehend and strategize around legal and moral issues such as the use of copyrighted material in AI algorithm training data sets.
- Elevated computing power requirements, calling for companies to build large and well-equipped data centers or purchase cloud resources.
- Hype and promotions from AI solution developers that can obscure real business cases for the technology or over-promise regarding AI capabilities.
- Training and upskilling requirements, to ensure employees at all levels are ready to use AI effectively.
Companies that develop fully featured AI strategies will emerge with plans that encompass both the promise of AI and concerns around its use. These plans can focus on functional areas such as:
- High-level AI strategy as part of the company's overall outlook.
- Technology needs and budgeting issues.
- Personnel management and upskilling.
- Data infrastructure, management and security.
Executives who take the time to study technology in general and AI specifically are well-positioned to build such broad strategies.
See examples of how companies have integrated AI project development into their strategies when leaders study the technology with the aid of industry experts.
Learn more about AI's role in business with executive education courses
Since AI is such a multifaceted technology area, and one expanding so rapidly, it's natural that there are multiple executive education options with a direct focus on AI. Leaders can concentrate on the aspects of the technology that inspire them most or relate most directly to their industries and business objectives.
Studying with MIT Sloan Executive Education allows participants to tap directly into insights from faculty members who are themselves deeply embedded in the business technology space. Considering the pace of new GenAI breakthroughs, connecting with true industry experts is the primary way to keep up.
Leaders across industries will shape their strategies around implementing AI in the years ahead. Some of them will have studied the technology and others won't — this divide could help separate effective AI users from also-rans.
Want to delve deeper? Discover the latest AI business insights in MIT Sloan Executive Education's AI Executive Academy or in additional courses including Leading the AI-Driven Organization, Frontiers of Generative AI in Business, and Negotiation Essentials Sprint: AI-Accelerated Learning.