How will artificial intelligence (AI) change the world of work and industry? Is AI even the new electricity and are we already in the middle of this revolution? AI start-up entrepreneur Vanessa Cann and Stephan Krubasik, Global Co-Lead of management consultancy Kearney Analytics, discussed these questions on the stage of the SZ Salon on Tuesday evening.
For Stephan Krubasik it is clear that if you understand a “revolution as a cataclysmic change,” AI is definitely one. Just as one can no longer imagine a world without the Internet, technology is changing society and of course the world of work. But he and his fellow panelist high up in the SZ tower do not see artificial intelligence as a threat; they put the opportunities in the foreground.
Vanessa Cann, for example, compares AI with the introduction of the PC: “At some point we started putting our skills in Word or Powerpoint into our CVs.” This will also be the case with the possibilities of using AI. And especially with tough, slow and repetitive processes, such as answering the daily flood of emails, AI can be a great help – for every employee. “AI programs make a good LinkedIn post in five minutes,” she says. “We need more relief, we are all at our limits.”
“We will have more human-machine interactions”
Vanessa Cann does not share the fear that AI will destroy many jobs. “The professional fields will change, we will have more human-machine interactions,” she says. In this way, artificial intelligence in medicine could make the diagnosis and doctors could spend more time with patients and “listen more”. And this division of labor also helps against the much-complained shortage of skilled workers.
Krubasik is also of the opinion that no jobs will be lost as a result of the current transformation process. “Historically, any technological development – such as the shift from manual to machine work – has never resulted in this.” Even if, of course, one cannot derive future models from historical processes. He says you should focus on the constructive and positive aspects of AI because “Germany has a great culture of innovation.” An important topic for industry is intelligent robotics and networked factories. In this way, value chains can be controlled and optimized more directly.
Vanessa Cann is working on solutions for industry with the start-up Nyonic. The founder and her colleagues want to develop a so-called Large Language Model (LLM), i.e. a basic model for industrial applications. And this should also work in several European languages. She says: “We have the problem that the models are good in large language areas such as English.” But if you try the whole thing in Icelandic or Swedish, you will find that the results are miserable. And these problems need to be solved.