Building an AI Foundation for Growth

“Artificial intelligence and generative AI may be the most important technology of any lifetime.”
– Marc Benioff (Chair, CEO and Co-Founder – Salesforce)

Taking AI to the Next Level: Like many other organizations, Croixstone has launched a journey to harness the full potential of AI and to drive its value creation. Last week, three of our leaders (Ed Ritter, Brandon Morgan, and Mark Weber) participated in the second of a three-part AI educational series hosted by the Charlotte Chapter of the Private Directors Association (Croixstone serves as a sponsor along with Gold Sponsor Charlotte Business Journal and fellow Bronze sponsors GreerWalker and Essex Richards).

AI Speakers: Last week’s AI educational session featured a diverse panel of speakers including Jeremiah Grant (President, Chief Information Security Officer – EverOak Solutions), Lisa Weil (Board Advisor – Quinnipiac University School of Nursing and former Senior Managing Director, Head of Experience Product Management – TIAA), David Phillips (Founder – Faster Glass) and moderator Carolina Ko (Senior Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager – Bank of America).

AI Key Messages: We appreciated and strongly aligned with the following key messages delivered by the panelists regarding the AI journey:

  • There is a call to action for EVERY organization when it comes to AI.
  • Focus first on your employees and their concerns and potential resistance to AI.
  • Allow for experiential learning to drive AI training.
  • Organizations must have solid foundations rooted in clean data strategies, great controls environments, and solid governance to support their AI journeys.
  • Organizations should “right-size” their governance of AI.
    Board members need not be AI techies, but rather they should be asking foundational and strategic questions related to AI.

Wondering about how to best launch your organization’s AI journey? Reach out to Mark Weber, Croixstone’s Managing Partner and Co-Founder here.

Learn more about the Private Directors Association. Founded in 2014, the Private Directors Association is dedicated to improving private companies’ growth and sustainability through governance that adds value. Learn more here.

ChatGPT and Job Seekers

“If used as a guide, distiller of content and framework, ChatGPT could have many benefits for its job-seeking users.”

– Robin Reshawn (Executive Career Strategist and Contributor to USNews.com)

What is ChatGPT?: ChatGPT is short for “Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer” and is an artificial chatbot developed by OpenAI. The technology was released in November 2022. ChatGPT has the fastest-growing customer base of any technology in history.

Why you need to become familiar with ChatGPT: As shared by Alan Murray (President and CEO of Fortune magazine), “generative A.I. is likely to have the most profound impact on the business world of any technology since the PC.” Paul Dougherty, CTO of Accenture, said that what is coming is a reinvention “of the way work is done, dramatically amplifying what people can achieve.”

Job Seekers are using ChatGPT: A Forbes magazine article published last month shared that 46% of 1,000 current and recent job seekers surveyed by ResumeBuilder.com used ChatGPT to craft their resumes or cover letters. The job search can be a tedious and time-consuming journey, and ChatGPT can deliver incredible time savings and helpful resume writing capabilities.

Yes, but: If not used the right way, the content delivered by ChatGPT risks being generic and buzzword heavy. Resume writers also risk losing their voice in building what should be a tailored marketing document. We recommend that job seekers regard ChatGPT as a great tool that delivers many benefits, however, it needs to be used with an eye toward understanding its limitations and how to best compensate for its shortfalls.

The bottom line: Job seekers should become familiar with ChatGPT and how to best incorporate the emerging technology into their searches. The experience gained will not only deliver benefits to the job search, but it will also help the job seeker to better understand how the technology might be applied in the workplace.

Learn more: We like the insights shared in a February 2023 article published by USNews.com entitled “Using ChatGPT for Your Resume and Job Search.” Read the article here.

ChatGPT Fast Facts

It is nearly impossible to scan the business news over the past few months without seeing “ChatGPT” in the headlines.

Here are some fast facts to help you get to know what ChatGPT is all about.

The big picture: Many experts believe that new chatbots like ChatGPT are poised to massively disrupt technology to the same degree like Apple’s iPhone, Google’s search engine, and Netscape’s web browser proved disruptive.

“Anybody who doesn’t use this will shortly be at a severe disadvantage. Like, shortly. Like, very soon.”
– Jeff Maggioncalda – CEO, Coursera

So what is it?: ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence tool that allows a user to generate original text. It can serve up information in clear, simple sentences, rather than just a list of internet links. Furthermore, the AI tool can explain concepts in ways humans can easily understand.

ChatGPT automatically generates text based on written prompts in a manner that is much more advanced and creative than earlier chatbots. The software debuted in late November 2021, and it has generated extreme buzz.

Here’s the backstory: ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based company that was founded in December 2015. Open AI’s founders include well known technology gurus including: Sam Altman, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Wojciech Zaremba, Elon Musk, and John Schulman.

OpenAI’s mission: The company conducts research in the field of AI with the stated goal of promoting and developing friendly AI in a way that benefits humanity as a whole.

Yes, but: AI chatbots are anything but perfect. They learn their skills by analyzing huge amounts of data posted to the internet, and they therefore can blend fiction with fact. They can deliver information that is biased along with toxic language (including hate speech).

The money train: OpenAI’s founders pledged $1B to launch the company. The company received a $1B investment from Microsoft in 2019, another significant investment in 2021, and a rumored $10B investment in January 2023. Microsoft said the renewed partnership will accelerate breakthroughs in AI, and help both companies commercialize advanced technologies.

Learn more:
OpenAI
ChatGTP

Our Sources: CNN Business, Axios, The New York Times, Microsoft, Gizmodo, Wikipedia

2018 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report

Each year LinkedIn analyzes data from the previous five years to identify emerging jobs and the skills associated with them.  Some of the biggest takeaways in the recently released LinkedIn 2018 U.S. Emerging Jobs Report are as follows:
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  • AI is here to stay (6 out of the 15 emerging jobs are related to AI in some way).
  • Basic business operational functions are on an upsurge.
  • Soft skills – oral communication, leadership and time management – account for the largest skills gap.
Read the full report to learn more about the top 15 emerging jobs, those jobs with the largest hiring growth and the skills with the biggest skill gaps.

A Disruptive Force…Smart Technology

Smart technology is a disruptive force in the business world and promises to impact every industry – including knowledge-based industries like management consulting.  MIT Sloan Management Review published a great article last month that highlighted 5 rules that consulting companies should follow to remain relevant in the age of AI and other smart technologies.  Read it here.

How Data Analytics Are Changing the Consulting Industry

Like other industries, the consulting industry is being disrupted in many ways.  With the rise of artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and advanced analytics, consultants may find themselves working closely with artificially intelligent systems that can analyze huge volumes of data that are incomprehensible to the human mind.  Learn more about how data analytics are changing the consulting industry – and what is perhaps the most important consulting skill going into the 2020s.

Pervasive Computing 101

In a recent MIT Sloan Management Review article, Dr. Albert H. Segars from University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School outlined seven core technologies that are altering nearly every dimension of our lives and their implications for commerce, health care, learning, the environment and more.  According to Dr. Segars, pervasive computing is one of the core technologies that every business leader should become familiar with as the digital revolution rages on.

Pervasive computing, also called ubiquitous computing, is a concept where information, media, context, and processing power are delivered conveniently to us in all kinds of things. The Apple Watch’s ability to alert users of incoming phone calls and to allow users to complete calls through the watch, is an example of pervasive computing. The large network of connected microprocessors embedded in everyday objects allows access to information from virtually anywhere and at any time.

First pioneered in the late 1980s at the Olivetti Research Laboratory in Cambridge England, the development of the “Active Badge“, a small clip-on microcomputer employee ID card, enabled the company to track employee movement. This spurred articles by the The New York Times, ComputerWorld and other publications about George Orwell’s Big Brother prediction coming true.

Mark Weiser, considered to be the father of ubiquitous computing, soon began building early ubiquitous computing devices with his colleagues at Xerox PARC and popularized the term “pervasive computing” with the creation of IBM’s Pervasive Computing division.
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Today, pervasive computing generally involves wireless communications and networking technologies, mobile devices, embedded systems, wearables, wireless sensors, voice recognition, AI and more. According to a recent study report published by Market Research Future, the global market of pervasive computing technology is booming and expected to gain prominence. Technology advancements and the increased demand for Internet of Things (IoT) continue to drive the growth.
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Application of Pervasive Computing Technology:
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  • Communications
  • Logistics
  • Transportation (by air, land and sea)
  • Energy
  • Learning
  • Military
  • Banking/Finance
  • Production
  • Smart Homes
  • E-commerce
  • Security & Safety
  • Healthcare/Medical Technology
  • Media
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To learn more, read:
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Croixstone is nationally-certified by the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) and a Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB).

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