The benefits of AI to businesses are massive, varied and exciting, particularly with the right guardrails in place. But let’s keep things in perspective, says Laurence Kiddle, head of the data and technology teams at professional services firm S&W. By HENRY CARPENTER
Half an hour spent with Laurence Kiddle goes by in a flash, especially when he’s in full flow on his specialist topic – tech.
And get him on the subject of AI – its strengths, dangers and contexts for optimum use in the workplace – and it’s tricky to keep up with him.
But as someone who has spent the last 25 or more years working variously with massive professional services firms such as Deloitte and S&W, where he is now, in industry with software companies, and then helping to scale up smaller businesses, his are words worth hanging on to.
Reassuringly for those of us with nightmares of machine-controlled societies, Kiddle brings the whole subject down to earth and is generally upbeat (with a few caveats) about AI’s bewildering progress.
As he says: “The AI apocalypse hasn’t happened. Fifty per cent of people haven’t lost their jobs. People are basically just getting to grips with how they can use the tools they’ve got, and with the costs associated with them.”
The key point for businesses is that we’re still the ones pulling the levers, and here Kiddle offers an analogy for the use of AI.
“When the first aeroplane was delivered to the US military in 1909, it was the most cutting-edge piece of kit in the world at the time,” he says.
“However, to get that aeroplane in the air, they needed a hot air balloon, and these had been invented a couple of centuries beforehand. And to get that onto the runway, they had to use a horse, because there was no paved road that an early motor car could use.
“The point is this: yes, AI is super cutting-edge in the same way that the airplane was at its first delivery, but it is surrounded by some fairly old technology.
“A lot of stuff still happens on email, on the phone, and sometimes using Excel sheets set up 20 years ago.
“The success of the overall business depends on getting all of those different things to work effectively together rather than having one super piece of automation that does everything.”
We are all aware by now that AI can do extraordinary amounts of heavy lifting for business. But as Kiddle points out, whatever its lustre, AI is not infallible. It has to be used effectively, responsibly and, crucially, in context.
It’s a useful tool that’s bringing significant productivity gains, and in the future, potentially much more. But Kiddle warns that it could also be a massive distraction from the day job and, at worst, could cause severe problems without the right guardrails and safeguards in place.
So, he advocates a balanced view. AI is not a workplace panacea but a tool to help businesses and must be treated as such.
Taming the robots
Security is ever-present in conversations around AI. Vigilance is a key watchword, Kiddle advises. When installing guardrails, businesses need to think about their use of AI and what it is they are actually safeguarding, he advises – whether it’s data, the internet, social media or anything else.
“Having the right cyber security is even more important now than it was a year ago,” he says.
In the uncertain, fast-changing environment AI brings, one area of increasing interest is the second-mover advantage: the benefit a company can gain by entering a market after another has acted as the pioneer.
One of the main learnings from second-mover advantage is the importance of avoiding fragmented solutions, according to Kiddle.
“Much money and time have been wasted by businesses that have done some really good things with their tech but haven’t necessarily got the right results,” he says.
“It’s almost like a whack-a-mole approach, where there’s an issue over here, another over there, and we’ll deal with them individually.
“But if you’ve got one problem being solved, say, by Google, for instance, in Gemini, and one being solved by something different, you end up with a real patchwork of solutions that don’t tend to hang together, and all have different maintenance issues. Ultimately, they are dependent on the individuals who have built them.
“There’s also a presupposition that AI is the answer, when perhaps the wiser route might be to begin with the problem, or the opportunity that you’ve got.
“The solution to that might be AI – but it’s not the answer to everything.
“It might well be that returning the emphasis to people, and ensuring you’re hiring the right talent for the right roles is the key. Not everything is going to be an AI solution.
“The emphasis is on the people, not the equipment.”
