HBR IdeaCast
How Generative AI Changes Organizational Culture
Thu May 18 2023
Generative AI and Job Losses
00:02 - 07:30
- Generative AI can lead to job losses, but reskilling employees for different jobs can help overcome this.
Building the Right Culture for Innovation
00:02 - 07:30
- Building the right culture is necessary for successful innovation and competition with generative AI.
- Culture plays a crucial role in ensuring accountability and responsibility when using generative AI.
Organizational Readiness for AI
00:02 - 22:27
- Organizations ready to move into AI have a center of excellence or a group focused on AI experimentation.
- Organizations are not currently set up for generative AI, but adoption and curiosity around it has been extraordinary.
- Cultural and organizational changes are needed to ensure people understand these technologies fully.
Leadership and Culture
00:02 - 29:58
- Leadership and human side are important factors in shaping an organization's culture to embrace AI.
- Leaders need to guide the way these tools are implemented to avoid consequential mistakes.
- Leaders must make room for foundational questions about the impact of generative AI on workers and society.
- Leadership requires both learning and compassion.
Responsible Usage of Generative AI
00:02 - 36:21
- Guard rails are needed to ensure responsible usage of generative AI within organizations.
- A culture of responsible AI use needs to be embedded from the start with ethical considerations in every decision.
- To prevent harmful bias, diversity is important in designing systems and strict rules around documentation and transparency must be set.
- Individual users are responsible for what they put out in the world by using these tools.
- Users need to be extra thoughtful, careful and verify oversight.
- Generative AI is not a shortcut or cheating tool, but a tool that needs to be celebrated.
- Organizations need to determine safeguards and guardrails for the best possible results without getting into trouble.
Impact and Disruption of AI
07:02 - 15:10
- Management teams and boards have questions about the impact, disruption, and safety of generative AI.
- Management has questions about the impact of AI on their business, how fast it will materialize, and how disruptive it could be.
- Missed opportunities occur when organizations view AI as just another hype cycle or leave it up to IT or data science teams alone.
Cultural Fluency and Education
07:02 - 15:10
- Cultural fluency education is critical for employees to apply AI responsibly and safely.
Questioning the Basis of Thriving
07:02 - 15:10
- Organizations that view AI as a moment in time to question their basis of thriving are able to progress forward.
Pushing Cultural Boundaries
07:02 - 15:10
- Companies need to push cultural boundaries when considering the rise of intelligent machines.
Continuous Learning and Skill Building
14:50 - 22:27
- Piloting, iterating, and continuous learning is necessary with a communication plan in place.
- Encouraging a culture of flexibility, innovation, and continuous learning is important while providing support for those who struggle.
- Skill building requires a hearts and minds framework with buy-in and self-efficacy as dimensions.
- Individual managers need to understand where their team members are in terms of buying and sense of efficacy while providing organized training guides.
Automation and Job Creation
21:57 - 29:58
- Automation will change the nature of jobs, but every technological revolution has created more jobs than it destroyed.
Ethical Risks of Generative AI
21:57 - 29:58
- Generative AI comes with ethical risks such as perpetuating harmful biases and violating privacy.
Trust and Leadership
29:30 - 36:21
- Technical skills are important, but timeless leadership skills around integrity, accountability and fairness are equally important.
- Trust is one of the most powerful organizational characteristics that companies need to upskill on.
- Leadership fundamentals remain important with less flexibility on poor leadership.
- Every leader has to work on becoming a digital leader with a digital mindset.