Some weeks back, João F Santos, founder of a Portuguese garment start-up, appointed OpenAI’s bot ChatGPT as the chief executive officer (CEO) at his company. Santos made a dedicated move to listen to the chatbot for at least an hour a day and execute plans as dictated by the bot’s artificial intelligence (AI). Interestingly, the company turned profitable within just a week by following the strategies laid out by the new CEO, such as formulating a ten-point business plan and launching an online store. The chatbot also came up with a new brand name by blending the words ‘AI’ and ‘aesthetic’. Thus, a profitable venture named AIsthetic was built with an AI bot’s decision-making skills.
AIsthetic is not the only company that appointed an AI bot as its CEO. In different parts of the world, companies have experimented with AI-enabled bots at decision-making levels, even before ChatGPT took the world by storm. A Hong Kong-based gaming company called NetDragon Websoft, and a Colombian rum brand named Dictador had appointed AI CEOs in August-September last year, both claiming to be the first of its kind.
Tang Yu, the AI apparatus at the helm of NetDragon Websoft, tasted quick success when the company’s stock price showed double-digit growth within just a few months of the AI takeover. As these success stories of AI bots managing business enterprises evolve from science fiction to reality, the pertinent question to ask is whether humans have any sort of edge over man-made AI bots when it comes to critical decision-making.
AI Decision Makers: Yes Or No?
Although the possibility of AI CEOs taking over major businesses may seem far-fetched, Shuvabrata Biswas, a data privacy analyst at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), noted in a LinkedIn post that the potential merits and demerits of such a scenario cannot be ignored. According to him, some key advantages of AI CEOs would be quicker and more accurate data analysis, cost savings and absence of human biases. The latter one makes for an interesting case because all humans, even CEOs, bring their innate biases to work, possibly affecting their work decisions in one way or the other.
Another major advantage that an AI bot has over a human is that it is not subject to fluctuations in productivity. While humans need periods of rest and sleep to continue productive activities, bots can get things done without having to take a break. This makes its performance predictable, and, more importantly, consistent as well. But, at the end of the day, the bots’ performance is dependent on the training received from humans. Nitin Jain, founder and CEO of FIGHTRIGHT Technologies, says, “People should remember that behind every great AI innovation there has been a team of human beings coding, refining and designing the algorithms. Hence, the human touch is irreplaceable and invaluable.”
Even the most advanced AI systems are only trying to emulate the human mind, feels Meenakshi Vasisht, founder and CEO of TekUncorked. She says, “Human mind is a highly evolved extended model of ChatGPT. The human mind's cognitive algorithms are continuously training the mental models so that they mature over time with several responses getting embedded as reflexes, some as intuition and some gut feel while others are linked to perception and experience.”
While the human mind can train itself in an abstract manner, AI is yet to reach that level, and this can be dealbreaker in critical decision-making scenarios. Shashank Singh, co-founder of Poshn, says, “It is important to note that AI language models are currently only capable of performing tasks for which they have been trained. They lack the capacity for abstract reasoning, creativity, and intuition that are essential for human executives.”
Boss Of Bots
So, if AI is not to be left in charge of key decision-making positions, how can a company leverage AI’s efficiency and speed? Jaspreet Bindra, the founder of The Tech Whisperer, is of the opinion that executives who know how to harness and adapt to AI technology will have an unfair advantage over those who do not. He says, “It is crucial for leaders to understand and encourage the use of these technologies in their companies. The real threat comes from other people who know AI and are capable of replacing executives who are not willing to adapt to new technologies.” Going forward, knowledge about AI will be as important as financial or marketing skills, Bindra states.
Neither humans nor bots can predict whether companies will continue to have AI bots at decision-making levels. However, it is evident that as technology advances at breathtaking speeds, those who are slow to adapt to the changes will be left behind. As such, it is very likely that AI management will be treated as a highly sought skill in the coming years. In the coming years, to become a boss, one will have to be the boss of bots as well.
