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July 2024:Navigating the AI Revolution

Date: 01 Jul 2024

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just a buzzword—it's transforming the way businesses operate. This shift, underscored at MKBAA 2024 which carried a technology and innovation theme, was the topic of conversation at the latest Milton Keynes Business Leaders Partnership (MKBLP) members’ breakfast, where the challenges and opportunities of AI took centre stage.

The breakfast event featured insights from guest speaker Jack Lawton, Principal AI Solutions Architect at Aiimi, who shared his expertise on leveraging AI effectively in business.

Jack’s presentation came on the heels of a groundbreaking moment in tech history, with Silicon Valley chipmaker Nvidia surpassing the market value of tech giants Apple and Microsoft, highlighting the central role AI technologies are beginning to play in the business world.

During the discussion, Jack shared insightful results from a recent survey conducted by Aiimi which fuelled the content of the company’s newly launched AI Playbook.

According to the survey, 81% of UK business leaders believe that AI will significantly change the way their companies create and deliver value, underscoring the seriousness with which leaders view AI and its potential to reshape the business landscape.

Going onto address a common concern among business leaders—the fear of being left behind – Jack commented: “Companies believe that failing to adopt AI will lead to them falling behind competitors, however those who implement AI incorrectly could undermine the value of their company.”

Covering the critical areas of security and corporate governance, Jack shared cautionary tales of companies that rushed into AI adoption, only to encounter significant problems: “AI should not be adopted hastily but rather with careful planning and strategic alignment.”

On overcoming AI risks, one technique Jack discussed was Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), which enhances the accuracy and reliability of generative AI models. By training AI on corporate models and feeding it high-quality, accurate data and documents, businesses can ensure that AI provides relevant and contextually accurate answers.

This strategic approach will, according to Jack, help companies avoid issues such as AI hallucinations, where models generate incorrect or misleading results. He also highlighted the dangers of shadow AI, where employees use unapproved AI tools, exposing the organisation to risk.

The subject of company data did draw attention to further challenges with 57% of business leaders surveyed by Aiimi admitting that they didn’t believe their data was of sufficient quality to be used in AI models. Also, according to Aiimi’s research, 73% of documents companies create have never been used since the day they were created, highlighting a broader problem of information retrieval and content overload.

“However, users who already employ automated data management were six times more likely to agree that their data is sufficient for AI purposes. This illustrates how the quality of AI outputs is directly tied to the quality of the data input.”

Concluding the breakfast event, Jack fielded questions from members on issues such as cybersecurity, the potential danger of AI and the dark web, the risk of bias in algorithms, and the ethics of using AI. 

“While AI holds immense potential for transforming businesses, it needs to be approached thoughtfully and strategically.” The insights from Jack provided valuable guidance for MKBLP members eager to leverage AI while navigating its complexities.

Thank you to Aiimi for sponsoring this MKBLP Members’ Breakfast. 

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