AI's Impact on Knowledge Sharing

Just came across an excellent new paper from Microsoft Research: “Working with AI: Measuring the Occupational Implications of Generative AI.” https://lnkd.in/eBBfNdBk The findings are quite intuitive! Generative AI is especially impactful in knowledge work, with strong applicability across areas like administration, sales, and information analysis. But what makes the paper stand out is the way they quantify this impact. Using over 200,000 real Bing Copilot conversations, the researchers classify both user goals and AI responses using the O*NET work activity taxonomy. Then, leveraging a combination of user feedback and GPT-4 based classifiers, they assess whether the AI successfully completed the task and how significantly it contributed to the work. What’s particularly fascinating is how often AI doesn't just execute tasks - it reshapes them. In many cases, the AI ends up acting more like a coach or collaborator than a direct replacement. In fact, around 40% of the time, the AI’s actions were entirely different from the user’s original intent, revealing just how much generative AI can influence how we approach problems in the first place. The paper introduces an "AI applicability score" for occupations, a thoughtful and structured way to assess where AI is most likely to make an impact in the near term. Well worth a read if you’re thinking seriously about the future of work and how to design for AI-human collaboration!

AI is going to disrupt knowledge work as we know it… And here’s one example of what that means: A popular account on X called CarDealershipGuy (with 444K followers) asked his audience of car dealers how their business was going. He got 191 responses. One of his followers took those responses and used ChatGPT to turn them into detailed research on the current pulse of the car market. “This is literally thousands of people’s jobs at McKinsey etc,” responded business journalist Liz Hoffman, indicating that ChatGPT, combined with easily obtained public social media data, was able to perform tasks typically reserved for elite, highly paid consultants. This is just one anecdote. I don’t think AI is taking away elite consulting jobs overnight. But I do think we underestimate how much knowledge work is already changing thanks to AI tools. And I think we underestimate how quickly expectations around that knowledge work are changing, too. Today’s AI tools already level up the sheer amount of intelligence we have at our disposal—and it’s the least powerful AI we’ll ever use again in our lives. The ability to have this type of intelligence on-demand is going to change how we think about hiring knowledge workers and enlisting the help of expert partners like consultants. https://lnkd.in/diTy56Wd #ai #marketing #business *** Did you find value in this? If so, share this post with your network and follow me Mike Kaput for more content like this.

Across many industries, there is no doubt that #AI will be a major influence on the future of the workforce. Though the goal is to augment human capabilities or foster more efficiency and effectiveness, many companies may struggle with facing disruption as they integrate AI. However, the #knowledgemanagement (KM) industry should welcome these advancements in AI as a real opportunity to force-multiply the impact the right information and insight can have on the growth trajectory of a modern company.   This future workforce will benefit from the integration of AI technologies and KM systems. At the center of that integration is the ability to efficiently store, retrieve, and socialize data. AI supplements the KM storage systems with automation of tasks like tagging & categorization, improvement of search capabilities and answers, and socialization of that relevant knowledge across teams and departments. It adds layers of integration with the other software tools that employees use every day, and will be able to surface knowledge from legacy systems across the enterprise. Lastly, AI will help personalize knowledge to the user, whether that be by role, geography, or unique use case. Ultimately as a leader at a Knowledge Management-focused company like #Bloomfire, it’s the outcomes for our customers that matter most. And from what I have witnessed across our customer base is that when our new Generative AI features are implemented, not only are users’ day to day tasks more efficient but more opportunities for learning and collaboration occur. That learning and collaboration is building a resilient, future-ready workforce for their company, focused on innovation and growth. If you are interested in diving in deeper, I explored this topic as part of an ongoing series on the future of work in our latest article with Wired. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dwwNZkM9 and then add your thoughts below.