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AI vs. Humans or AI + Humans: Reflections on HumanX

For an event with “Human” in the name, the forecast for humans was questionable at this week’s inaugural HumanX AI conference in Las Vegas.

Walking onto the exhibit floor on Day 1, you couldn’t help but notice a booth with a huge sign of a young woman that shouted – “Stop Hiring Humans”.

I hustled down to the fourth floor to attend a working session where the two consultants presenting said if you adopted Gen AI and followed their plan, you can begin firing knowledge workers in six months and managers in a year.

Next up on center stage, the speaker opened, “The year 2025 is going to be the explosion of AI agents and agentic AI!”  Who needs humans if you have AI agents, right?

Moving over to the track stage, a panel of two venture capitalists had one saying to the other: “Lawyers, accountants—so many knowledge workers are going to be automated out of a job, and they don’t even see it coming. The history of technological revolutions tells us this will be nasty. People will get angry. And when they do, pitchforks start coming out.”

And the other VC guy jumped in, “Eventually, there won’t be a single task where humans outperform AI or robots. Just let that sink in. We’re heading into a really, really rough patch where things just aren’t going to work out very well for humanity.”

Not a great outlook for humans. “Are humans really going to be expendable?” I wondered.

Next thought: “It’s gotta be 5 o’clock somewhere – happy hour.” But it was only noon — and even in Vegas, that’s a bit early for a cocktail. Though after those cheerful predictions, I was tempted.

Are these stark warnings for real, or are they hype?

I think mostly hype, but there is a seed of truth. Three days of AI immersion in Las Vegas and here are my takeaways:

  1. There is no doubt – the AI revolution is now. Gen AI is for real, it is getting better and advancing rapidly. It’s not going away.
  2. Gen AI is reshaping industries, companies and jobs at an unprecedented pace.
  3. Tech companies are pushing AI agents to drive their revenue and valuations. Each of these companies is hyper focused on winning the AI prize. Doesn’t matter that most brick-and-mortar companies are nowhere close to being ready to adopt their agentic and automation tools. As one tech CEO panelist remarked, “This is an arms race, let’s be honest, and we’re all arms dealers.”
  4. AI anxiety is high at companies among humans. Mostly because leaders haven’t figured out their AI strategy and communicated it. Also, leaders and knowledge workers aren’t receiving the upskilling and training that’s necessary for Gen AI adoption and proficiency. Without training, support and encouragement, your humans will assume the worst.
  5. If you are a CEO and not leading your company to rapidly adopt Gen AI, you are falling dangerously behind. Get yourself and your leadership trained on using Gen AI responsibly and lean into it. As you adopt it and become proficient, you’ll see endless possibilities.
  6. See Gen AI as a catalyst for human potential. An enabler of humans — not a replacement. Encourage your people to become Gen AI power users. Be the role model and become one yourself.
  7. No one said unequivocally (that I heard) AI agents are ready for prime time — yet. You need humans. Their insight, empathy, experience and judgment still surpass AI’s abilities.
  8. Encourage your humans to use Gen AI to solve their biggest problems. To handle the parts of their job they don’t like. And free up more time for work they do like — creativity, connecting, and purposeful work.
  9. Get trained. Use it for 30 minutes a day for 30 days. Shoot for a 20% increase in personal productivity in a month. You’ll develop a valuable new habit and transform the way you work.
  10. A growth mindset is essential. Continuous learning and reinvention is a must. Forever. It’s the requirement to thrive in today and tomorrow’s world.

Reflecting on the week at HumanX, I’m excited about AI, but I’m even more bullish about the opportunities it will bring humans who seize this transformative technology. In this race, the AI + Humans will prevail. That’s a combination to stay relevant and thrive. That’s what I’m betting on!

 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed about where to start on your AI journey or how to develop an effective AI strategy for your company, reach out. You might also find practical guidance in my book, The CEO’s AI Playbook: A Human-First Approach for Leveraging Gen AI to Create Massive Value, where you’ll discover how CEOs learn, apply, deploy, evolve and lead AI. The future belongs to those who embrace this technology, not fear it. Let’s navigate this transformation together.

The CEO’s AI Playbook: A Human-First Approach for Leveraging Gen AI to Create Massive Value

 

GenAI and Medtech CEOs: What I’ve Learned

To Thrive in An AI-World, Leaders Must Master New Skills to Be More Productive, Creative and Strategic 

It’s been one year today since ChatGPT launched and brought generative AI into the mainstream. In just five days, over one million people tried ChatGPT – it took Twitter two years to hit that milestone. And in 2023, terms like “artificial intelligence,” “generative AI,” and “AI” are ubiquitous in business publications.

ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) allow us to write a prompt and see GenAI’s superpowers at work within seconds. It excels at generating and synthetizing text, video, audio, images and code. It’s also exceptional at brainstorming and generating ideas, completing tasks and interacting. However, it’s not perfect. It’s quirky and sometimes provides wrong answers.

Is this GenAI hype or the real deal? The jury is still out, but the quality of the LLMs is improving rapidly.  CEOs are jumping on board – mentions of AI on S&P 500 earnings calls have tripled compared to last year according to Bloomberg. And CEOs are putting their money where their mouths are. The investments and projections are staggering:

  • AI investments could approach $200 billion globally by 2025 (Goldman Sachs).
  • AI could contribute over $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030 (PwC).
  • AI productivity gains could reach $4.4 trillion (McKinsey).

In the medtech and healthtech sectors, moving to the “AI class” is vital.  2023 has been challenging – EY projects anemic 0.4% revenue growth versus the modest 3.5% growth last year. Slow growth and shrinking margins make productivity gains imperative. Meanwhile, AI in healthcare is projected to have an 85% CAGR through 2027 – faster than any other industry – and becoming a $22 billion market (BCG).

While medtech has been slow to adopt AI, firms that embrace it can optimize productivity, accelerate revenue and transform their businesses with new innovative AI-augmented products and services.

Productivity starts at home. An HBS/BCG study showed AI boosts knowledge worker productivity 66% on certain tasks. The productivity gains apply to executives, too. Yet, in my discussions with CEOs and senior leaders, most executives admit they don’t use AI in their daily work. They know “AI” as a term but haven’t realized its potential. That is a risky position. While AI may not take your job, someone who knows and uses AI soon will. When I ask these leaders if they would like to learn how ChatGPT, Claude and other AI-based tools can save them time, make them more creative and improve decisions, I get an overwhelming “Yes!”

Yesterday, I gave a CEO client a ninety-minute abbreviated version of the AI for Executive Productivity workshop. First, we identified the work he does that requires both brain and brawn. His list of “use cases” included:

  • Preparing the board deck and prepping for the board meeting.
  • Preparing for important meetings with key customers and investors. Gaining updated news about their companies, thinking of ideas to build rapport, questions to ask, questions to anticipate.
  • Writing the monthly letter to all employees
  • Preparing, writing and sending emails
  • Analyzing the monthly financial reports
  • Analyzing and summarizing industry financial reports such as proxy statements, annual reports, S-1s and 10Ks.
  • Reading and summarizing analyst and industry specific reports.
  • Preparing for sales calls.
  • Preparing for and rehearsing difficult conversations.
  • Writing performance reviews.

One-by-one, we took each of his use cases and he discovered first-hand how gen AI can help with a first draft or complete each of these tasks as an assistant, a strategist or a creator.  In ninety minutes, we just skimmed the surface, but he was amazed and sees the potential. Hours and hours of drudge work will be saved each month. Imagine if you and your team was AI-fluent and applied it daily. What would that be worth?

The takeaway is clear: AI is here to stay and rapidly improving. Leaders who don’t skill up on AI’s potential will struggle to remain competitive and become obsolete.  Medtech firms that fail to adopt it will be left behind. Make this your personal strategic imperative. Make AI your teammate to augment your daily work routine. The time to start is now – because an AI-powered future is closer than it appears!