2.) Decide if your business must be
an early adopter.

Think carefully about your business, your competitors and the environment you operate in. Given that, try to decide if your business needs to be an early adopter, middle stage adopter or late stage adopter. Although it can be exciting to be on the ‘bleeding edge’, not every business has to be there. Continue to make this assessment. Things are happening so quickly that you may need to change your assessment frequently.

3.) Pay close attention to the GenAI maturation curve.

As a business leader you may not have the time or the technical background to do this by yourself. In that case, find a trusted source that has the technical background and the inclination to follow the maturation curve closely. Be careful in the process of finding the trusted source. Remember that there are many claiming to have knowledge and expertise who don’t yet have it. This kind of trustworthy source is a scarce resource and should be treated as such.

4.) Choose applications that fit the current maturation curve situation.

Maintain effective and productive innovation funnels. That is, a series of processes, budgets, with senior leadership support that promotes innovative ideas. Analyzes them. Filters them. Carries promising ones through stages to successful implementation. Leadership that values the knowledge learned from failure as well as successful implementations.

As part of the funnel process, place a strong emphasis on selecting applications that fit the current state of the GenAI maturation curve with special emphasis on the current state of GenAI negative side effects. For example, make a clear estimate of the probability of hallucination with the particular GenAI instantiation being proposed for the proposed application. Then, estimate the damage that may occur as a result of that probability of hallucination. If the analysis shows that the application has promise, develop a prototype to test the estimate. If the analysis shows the application does not have promise, estimate where on the maturation curve GenAI technology will have to be to make it have promise. Watch for the technology to reach that point.

5.) Take care of your employees so that they can take care of your business.

Plan your people resources carefully. Make sure that your employees feel that they will be taken care of as GenAI automation matures and grows in the business. This is very important. Negative employee attitudes can create a toxic environment and produce mutually destructive behavior. Employees understand that there is some amount of competition inside a company. They want to feel that they will be okay if they work conscientiously on the things they have control over. In the past, up-skilling and retraining have been seen as a way to protect employees in areas being automated. But now GenAI promises to automate so much that other means must be found to make hard working employees feel that they will be able to continue to support their families.

To make sure that employees can effectively use the GenAI tools, provide appropriate, quality training to your employees. For technical staff good fundamental training in GenAI technology is important, i.e., training that focuses on the basic principles. Very detailed training of technical staff may not be necessary. The field is changing so rapidly that the details may quickly become obsolete. Those working on specific projects may need training and support on the technical details associated with their work in that project. Similarly, when hiring technical staff look more for understanding of the basic principles rather than detailed knowledge.

There needs to be GenAI technical training for business roles as well. That training should provide an understanding of the basic principles of GenAI and a strong understanding of the negative side effects. The understanding of the negative side effects should be paired with a good understanding of the likely course of the maturation curve and its consequences. Tools for staying current should also be included.

To help assure a pipeline of qualified people for the business, work with educational institutions to help them understand what the likely projection in GenAI automation within your business will be. Help them understand the skill sets you will need and when they will be needed. Then, provide on-ramps for graduates to join you.

Conclusion

Business leaders are confronted by the question: Are GenAI systems in your business or is your business contained in GenAI systems? The answer to this question will change over time. Furthermore, the changes may come rapidly. The guidelines discussed above will help business leaders make smart decisions.