Not using AI at work yet? You're already falling behind
The sudden rise of AI in the workplace, and its inevitable impact on every corner of our lives, will go down as one of the most axis-tilting shifts to the way that we work. Now, I'm not being overly dramatic here for no reason, the early advancements in AI are just the start of an exponential curve in front of us.
For years, many people assumed that robots would come for lower paid jobs first, like factory workers or front-of-house staff, before gradually working their way up the wage chain.
But the sudden arrival of generative AI (which can create content like reports and images) and agentic AI (where technology works autonomously on behalf of a user) has shown that no amount of higher education makes you immune from these trends.
Increasing AI adoption can bring on two extreme reactions: fear and excitement. Both are valid responses as we better understand the potential and dangers of this new technology, but whether we like it or not, AI is already being used in most workplaces.
Your colleagues and competitors are drafting emails, reviewing contracts, writing presentations, analysing data and using it to help with every task we used to think only other humans could do.
Use of AI programs, like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, can have immediate and immense impact on your day-to-day work.
However, the uptake is pretty uneven. A new Australian survey by Humanova found that mid-sized businesses with 50 to 99 employees are leading the charge when it comes to AI adoption. The report's author, Dr Sean Gallagher, says the reason for this is that just over a third of employees of firms this size are 'power users' who are currently using AI at least daily.
If you're not one of them, there's a real and growing risk that you might become professionally obsolete as those around you transform their roles through AI.
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