The impact of AI on the workforce has been a topic of discussion for many years, beginning in the late 2010s when it was often reported that executives avoided directly attributing layoffs to investments in AI or any form of automation. However, the current landscape has shifted with the emergence of Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, which has grown rapidly. This has led many executives to adapt and be prepared to state clearly that AI is one of the reasons for the disappearance of certain job positions.

Regardless of whether these developments will fully materialize in the future or not, G-Able, as a Tech Enabler, wants employees at all levels and executives to understand that the impact of Generative AI differs from one organization to another. If an organization does not thoroughly consider this matter, it could lead to a transformation that has more negative than positive effects. Therefore, there are several factors that high-level executives must consider before introducing GenAI as a replacement for human employees.

Step 1: Forecast Demand

First, examine how you expect demand for a given product or service to change, based on forecast business conditions and company strategy. Apply this exercise at the enterprise, business unit, department or team level, and for both internal- and external-facing services. This helps clarify how much a given team will need to deliver in the future.

Demand for a product or service could be:

Increasing/High An offering’s success is driving a marked rise in demand, with high growth targets. This demand may also be for a particular capability — such as AI, software or other digital technologies — that needs to scale to an increasing number of domains.

Examples: Medical diagnostics, software engineering, AI development, prompt engineers
 

Stable/Core Volume and future evolution are predictable, possibly with some variability linked to seasonality or similar factors. There are no plans for either high growth or phasing out the service.

Examples: Payroll services, customer service supporting stable markets, internal IT services, insurance claims processing

Decreasing/Low The service or product targets a niche market or is being phased out. Ongoing support is required, but there are no plans for investing further to try scaling up to a bigger offering. This includes instances where a company continues to serve existing customers for a product or service but no longer offers it to new ones.

Examples: Legacy products no longer sold but with multidecade contracts that need to be honored; niche products such as parametric insurance
 

Step 2: Envision AI Technology 

After forecasting demand, formulate your future vision for how you will apply generative AI and AI more broadly. This helps identify the degree of impact on a given team or role. Will people in certain jobs be replaced? Will they need new skills? How critical will it be for a worker’s success and competitive positioning that they use generative AI effectively?

Consider what your planned applications of AI mean for existing professions and industries.
 

You could:

Stay within their boundaries Many emerging use cases for generative AI are far from transformative. For example, a recruiter could use embedded generative AI functionality in a talent sourcing tool to automatically apply search criteria based on natural language input, without having to manually apply filters. This change simply makes an existing work pattern easier and faster.

Go beyond their boundaries Generative AI, alongside other AI techniques, can change how people access products and services. For example, AI can help create webpages, videos, apps or other content quickly, without requiring any technical knowledge. This capability allows for a fully personalized customer experience.

Create new boundaries Autonomous business, in which AI manages or carries out the majority of operations, has already started to emerge. Machine customers, augmented managers and autonomous operations are central features of these new business models. We anticipate the labor ratio to substantially change, with enterprises needing fewer people to generate the same amount of revenue.