Azeem Azhar recently shared six of the ways he and his team use AI. It’s quite short but full of great suggestions and with a valuable list of tools included at the end. 

I found lots that I can use in my own advisory work. One specific point made me think a bit wider:

“...that matters because AI workflows are personal; what works for me may not work for you.”

Enabling more bespoke, personalised software tools is one of the biggest changes AI will bring. And one of the earliest, as Azeem highlights this is already happening.

That will be amazing for many types of cognitive work. Writing, consulting, analysis are all activities that thrive when each piece of work is unique in some way.

Not every process works this way. Much of the attention around AI is focused on automating standard processes. Or at least processes where standardisation is believed to be the best and most efficient approach.

Made me think about some tensions and questions that will arise as AI goes deeper into organisations:

• Will the gains generated from the type of personalisation Azeem describes be visible? How will this be measured?

• Is GenAI the right technology for processes where standardisation is genuinely the best approach?

• What about processes where cost reduction has driven standardisation where it may not be the best approach? I am thinking especially of customer service or anything with an element of human interaction. Perhaps AI opens up an entirely new philosophy for running these processes?

• Clashes with a lot of compliance and standards infrastructure. Many of these rules depend on adherence to quite detailed processes. Will this make regulation a major constraint on potential gains in industries like healthcare and financial services? 

Love to hear what you think.