AI can already do quite a lot, as a new report from Anthropic suggests. It can already assist with many knowledge-work tasks, from writing software to analysing data and drafting reports.
Yet the first thing it encounters inside most organisations is this:
“Let’s create a working group
to evaluate potential opportunities
to discuss next steps.”
It may sound slow, but processes like this exist for a reason.
New technologies bring risk, uncertainty and responsibility.
After that, it must pass, just to name a few (each organisation is different):
- finance
- procurement
- legals
- compliance
- …
- …
By the time approval arrives, three newer models have already appeared.
Looking at the roles most exposed to AI, it sometimes feels like the ladder humans still climb is slowly being reshaped. It sometimes feels like AI is beginning to carve its own path.
In practice, the technology will likely evolve alongside those who experiment with it and integrate it into their work.
Of course there will be critics. That too is a very human part of the design process.
Those who adopt it may help shape how it grows.
The naysayers may find the transition slower to navigate.
Technology changes fast.
Human understanding takes a little longer.
Our thoughts, of course, move faster still.
Feels very close in spirit to IBM’s old philosophy:
THINK.
Until someone taught AI to read COBOL
And suddenly thinking had a new assistant…