Kicking off a recent webinar, Mohit Bhende, the CEO of Karat, noted a reality that many workers are just beginning to grasp: “Every job is now a tech job.” Yes, as AI begins to infiltrate workplaces, employees have begun to realize that they must embrace the rapidly evolving technology … or else.
“AI is now the smartest person in the room,” said consultant Breeana Whitehead, who joined Bhende in a webinar titled “The AI Workforce Reckoning” hosted by Qwoted.
The way that people work – in industries including food and beverage – needs to be reinvented, the panelists noted.
“AI will absolutely displace people who refuse to use AI,” said Eric Vaughan, CEO of IgniteTech, Khoros, and GFI Software. “But I think every single vocation can adapt to this.”
For those intimidated by AI, here are a few initial steps to use it to improve your business.
Applied AI Arrives
In another recent webinar, hosted by renowned business expert Michael Girdley, panelists began their discussion by noting a refrain they often hear from CEOs:
“I know I should be doing something with AI, I just don’t know what.”
On this webinar panel, experts Slavo Tuleya and Manuel Castillo stressed the value of experimenting with AI – which 96% of small businesses plan to eventually adopt to improve profits.
First, Tulaya and Castillo suggested that business leaders think of AI as an employee who has already read every manual and is willing to work around the clock.
“Applied AI,” (sometimes referred to as “industrial AI), has begun making a huge impact on companies’ bottom lines. Applied AI entails systems built to perform specific, practical tasks, such as forecasting demand.
Tuleya and Castillo feel business leaders should only pursue applied AI if they feel legitimate pressure currently. They feel applied AI could help businesses that are currently experiencing most of the following issues:
- Output is tied to headcount and headcount is stuck
- Employees follow the same steps every time for many processes
- Key workers spend much of the day on work below their skill level
- If a senior ops employee retired, their knowledge would be lost
Ultimately, before implementing applied AI, business leaders need to identify and define their business’s shortcomings. In other words: What types of work consume the most hours? What’s repetitive?
AI has quickly progressed from simply answering questions to actually doing work. Through agentic AI, businesses can easily use systems that take initiative and act autonomously toward a goal. AI agents can be used in several ways to aid a business’s efficiency, as noted in this in-depth databricks blog.
“For the last three or four months we’ve started seeing real use cases where …. AI is actually capable of doing full cycles of work,” noted Castillo, the CEO of Fixed Labs.
“All of these things that, before, were impossible, now are becoming accessible for almost any kind of business – thanks to AI,” he added.
How AI Frees Employees
Even in a world where AI can streamline workflows beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, no one is suggesting that CEOs fire their full staff. Instead, leaders should ensure that AI allows the humans they do employ to work as efficiently, effectively, and accurately, as possible.
And, experts say, AI can’t match a talented employee’s ability to think critically.
“AI is meant to be a co-pilot of a plane; AI still needs oversight,” Christina Muller, founder of Mind Your Workplace, said during the Qwoted webinar.
“We can use this revolution as a way to restore our humanity in a lot of ways, and develop it,” Whitehead said, adding that employees’ soft skills could soon become more important than ever.
As long as business leaders use AI thoughtfully, the technology could revolutionize – and, in many ways – right-size staffs, ensuring that human employees are left to handle tasks that are often fulfilling and rarely mind-numbing.
“I think what we’re seeing is a fundamental talent redistribution, and I think that’s okay,” Bhende said. “It was coming, and it (was) needed.”
The Food Institute Podcast
How does a trip to Brazil, a stint in the music industry, and an apprenticeship at a pizzeria all come together to form a new style of condiment that would take the world by storm? Mike Kurtz, founder of Mike’s Hot Honey, shares the story of his company’s founding, how the swicy trend is propelling his business, and how CPG partnerships continue to inspire the brand’s fans.
