How to become an AI company
Leading your company in the age of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the world of business, creating new opportunities, challenges, and competitive advantages. But how can you become an AI company, and what does it take to succeed in the AI era?
In this article, I will share some insights on how to become an AI company, drawing from insights made by Andrew Ng, one of the leading experts and educators in AI, and build upon some of the points he presents on how to become an AI company.
I hope you will find this article useful and inspiring!
1. Execute pilot projects to gain momentum
You might be tempted to sit down and try to figure out which area of your business would benefit the most from using AI, but that might not be the best way to start. Instead, you should focus on smaller and maybe more simple projects and succeed with those projects. The goal is to gain some momentum and familiarity with AI and to demonstrate the business value of AI to your stakeholders.
It is crucial that your organization sees some concrete results and benefits from AI so that they can get excited and motivated to invest more in AI. By having a few smaller AI projects that succeed others in your organization might also get hands-on experience with AI, thus creating a positive feedback loop in the use of AI in your organization.
You should also be aware of the potential limitations of your organization and the technology. You should not try to solve the biggest and most complex problem you have, because the AI technology might not be mature enough to handle it, or your organization might not have the necessary competencies or resources to execute it.
Thus, start with smaller projects that are feasible and measurable, and show the impact of AI on your business.
2. Build an in-house AI team that can execute further AI projects
Outsourcing the development of AI projects might be beneficial in the short term, but in the long term, you must have a dedicated AI team in your organization. This will help you to keep your projects within the company and potentially create competitive advantages with your projects.
Andrew Ng suggests that you could form a new “AI unit” that works across the existing business units, almost like internal consultants. This AI unit would be responsible for developing and deploying AI solutions for different problems and processes in your organization, and for collaborating and communicating with the other units.
3. Provide broad AI training to employees to foster a company-wide AI-driven mindset
Naturally, not all of your employees will have the necessary skills and knowledge to drive AI projects. They need to understand what AI is, how it works, and how to use it to improve their work and performance.
Thus, AI training is essential to integrate AI into your organization, and to create a culture that embraces AI.
Fortunately, there are many platforms and resources that you can use to provide AI training to your employees, such as Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, YouTube, etc. These platforms are cost-effective and easy to set up, and they offer a variety of courses and topics on AI.
By educating your employees, you will reduce the need for external help over time, and you will also increase the confidence and trust of your employees in AI. They will see AI as a tool that helps them, not as a threat that replaces them.
4. Develop an AI strategy for your business that aligns with your corporate strategy
After you have gained some experience and success with AI, you can start to develop a more comprehensive and coherent AI strategy for your business. This strategy should align with your overall corporate strategy, and reflect your vision and goals.
You should ask yourself: How can we use AI to achieve our objectives? Which processes or functions should we prioritize for AI? How can we create a competitive advantage with AI in our industry?
You should not just “use AI” in a generic sense, because that will not give you any edge over your competitors. You should figure out how you can use AI to gain a competitive advantage for your specific industry sector.
One of the classic strategies derived from AI is the virtuous cycle:
This strategy is used by many companies, such as Uber, Spotify, Instagram, etc. It refers to how you can collect data, and “lock in” your users or customers over time. Specifically, the virtuous cycle means that the more a user uses your product or service, the more data they give your company.
The more data you have, the better your algorithms can become, and the better the algorithm, the better the service, leading to more usage. Think about how tailored your Instagram feed e.g. is.
Following such a strategy also sets some demands on your IT infrastructure. Is your data architecture fragmented and siloed? Or is it consolidated into one data warehouse, making data extraction frictionless?
Building upon Andrew’s steps on how to lead your company into the AI era, I think that it is also crucial to be aware of the potential business benefits of AI may take time. You cannot just implement AI and expect to see results immediately.
Take the virtuous cycle, for example. To gain a competitive advantage with the virtuous cycle, users need to use your product or service for a while, data needs to be stored and processed correctly, and your algorithm needs to be fine-tuned before you can deliver a better service. The benefits are not necessarily measurable the day after you have completed an AI project.
Moreover, I think that it is important to embrace and not be discouraged by failure. Implementing AI into your organization is not easy, and your first few projects might fail, but that should not stop you. Embrace a build-measure-learn and fail-fast mindset to foster growth and learning, and the results will come over time. In the era of AI, it is better to try than not to try at all.
