Putting AI at work: Creating new possibilities and fostering innovation with automation

Various GenAI and Specialized AI tools are poised to revolutionize work processes, enhance productivity, and shape the future of work. A global McKinsey report states that AI as a topic isn’t just restricted to the tech domain anymore, with nearly a quarter of surveyed C-suite executives admitting to personally using GenAI tools for work. This necessitates companies to prepare to pivot and embrace AI along with the deep and lasting changes it could bring.     

On a global scale, India plays a pivotal role in the ongoing AI revolution – with the country boasting the world’s third-largest talent pool for AI expertise. In addition, businesses across India are already making substantial investments to capitalize on the evolving capabilities of AI.  

According to a Nasscom report,  AI adoption will add $500 billion to the Indian GDP by 2025. However, challenges remain as many organizations jump on the AI bandwagon without fully understanding its potential value. There exists a gap between organizations’ eagerness to embrace AI and uncertainty about its impact on operations and desired return on investments (ROIs). How then can organizations and individuals adapt to the AI revolution and better realize the full potential of AI at work?

Why automation should be part of the AI equation?
AI may be able to understand and create many types of content or optimize specific functions, but it lacks the ability to take action. AI without automation is akin to having a brain without a body – it can think, but it cannot do anything with the insights. In the digital transformation ecosystem, both are needed to empower organizations with adaptive decision-making. Automation serves as the conduit to bring AI-inspired ideas to life swiftly.    
Organizations in India, and globally, are already unleashing the potential of their workforce through automation, boosting productivity, and fostering innovation. For example, combining AI and automation has enabled Omega Healthcare to experience a 100% surge in employee productivity, save thousands of hours on customer correspondence, achieve 99.5% process accuracy, and reduce turnaround time by 50%. This has benefited employees, investors, and customers alike.

Embracing the potential of AI at work 
Pioneering a new era, the future of AI in automation holds the promise of a revolutionary transformation, transcending routine tasks to embrace complex decision-making, problem-solving, and creativity. A proliferation of large language models (LLMs) is reshaping traditional work dynamics in India. 

A synergy of automation, generative AI, and specialized AI is propelling virtual aides to unparalleled levels of proactivity, intuition, and communication. This revolutionizes how we collaborate with machines, introducing a surge in productivity across industries. Autopilots, akin to the best human assistants, rapidly learn and execute a myriad of activities, from copying images into web forms to responding to emails and generating reports. 

For example, in data analysis, LLMs process extensive datasets, extracting insights and enabling data-driven decision-making. The rise of LLMs is also reshaping the dynamic between humans and machines, requiring a workforce capable of adapting to new roles and developing fresh skills. 

One particular AI use case that is gaining traction across industries is Intelligent document processing (IDP). Powered by cutting-edge GenAI and Specialized AI technologies, IDP is reshaping the landscape of document-intensive industries such as banking and healthcare, offering unparalleled efficiency, speed, and accuracy. 

For instance, Generative AI-powered IDP capabilities can significantly reduce the time it takes to pre-label and classify documents for processing loan applications moving forward. Generative AI can then accurately support queries across multiple dashboards. At the same time, employees can verify and extract data from identification cards and financial documents using Specialized AI streamlining the risk assessment process and speeding up loan approvals.
 
Meanwhile, IDP capabilities are enhancing medical records management in the healthcare sector. With systems that can pull and organize patient data and categorize medical documents, healthcare professionals can quickly access essential information. 

Across industries, IDP capabilities are also supporting Human Resource teams with the resume screening process. It’s like having an AI assistant that automatically extracts information, making candidate screening faster and more spot-on. Specialized AI takes it a step further, analyzing candidate profiles and making the hiring process much smoother.
         
Critical role of skill development in AI era
 As we embrace the future of work, industry leaders must prioritize the development of new approaches that harness the transformative force of AI through automation. Integrating intelligence into everyday operations and empowering employees to uplevel their skills will be essential in navigating this era of innovation and efficiency.
 
While the synergy of AI and automation holds a lot of potential, it may be reckless to rush into adopting new technologies without a thorough assessment of an organization’s maturity level. Before anything else, data management processes and underlying systems that support the integration of AI and automation capabilities should be in place.
     
In addition, organizations need to move beyond a piecemeal approach and consider how individual AI components interact with other systems. When necessary pre-built connectors are lacking, it becomes difficult to integrate AI-generated insights into the relevant parts of an organization’s infrastructure and take necessary action. As a result, the full potential of AI outputs remains untapped – with organizations unable to realize the broader benefits of AI-powered automation.
 
India’s AI journey has just begun. As we embrace the future of work in India, it is not enough to focus on merely achieving digital transformation. Holistic transformation goes beyond the surface-level adoption of technologies such as generative AI and specialized AI.

It delves deep into the core of how we operate, collaborate, and innovate – putting the transformative force of AI at work through automation, seamlessly integrating intelligence into everyday operations, automating all knowledge work, and up-leveling employees. It entails transforming employees into AI and automation champions and cultivating the right mindset and attitude to drive widespread awareness and implementation of new technologies.

-- Gautam Goenka, VP, Software Engineering & Site Head, UiPath