Victor Cho, CEO of Emovid and former CEO of Evite, joined us for an insightful Virtual Gathering to explore the dynamic and disruptive world of artificial intelligence (AI). He highlighted both the opportunities and challenges AI presents, offering simple yet powerful frameworks to help leaders navigate this unpredictable technological future.
He shared three actionable strategies to help leaders leverage AI effectively while anticipating its potential disruptions across industries and stakeholders.
1. Build Your Strategy Before Implementing AI
AI is advancing at an unprecedented pace, and Victor emphasizes that every company must pay attention to its implications. While pop culture often portrays AI in dystopian terms (think The Terminator), he believes that we’re very far from that kind of future and instead focuses on the practical and strategic integration of AI.
Here’s his approach to business strategy using a straightforward “left, middle, right” framework, inspired by a modified GE model:
- Left: The “macro cloud” — external macro trends such as social dynamics (demographics and behaviors) and technological changes (economic, political, and market shifts) that inform long-term planning.
- Middle: Real-time learnings derived from running your business — insights that blend with the macro cloud.
- Right: An ongoing, adaptive strategy shaped by combining macro trends and business learnings.
Victor explains that AI will profoundly impact every element within the “macro cloud” — from market dynamics to social and political landscapes. To prepare for these shifts, leaders need a robust and adaptable strategy that can anticipate change and respond effectively.
“The thing that defines business strategy at the highest level — the macro cloud — is going to be radically changed on every element,” Victor states.
2. AI’s Opportunities: Understanding the Landscape
Victor offers a practical tool to understand AI’s capabilities through a simple matrix:
- Y-Axis: Outcomes — Predicted vs. Emergent.
- X-Axis: Task Complexity — Simple/Uni-dimensional vs. Complex/Multi-dimensional.
Using real-world examples, Victor illustrates the matrix:
- Grammarly: Simple and predicted outcomes — built on algorithms to correct grammar.
- Self-Driving Vehicles: Complex and predicted outcomes — handling multiple tasks simultaneously.
- ChatGPT: Complex and emergent outcomes — systems capable of outcomes we cannot predict or design fully.
Victor highlights that emergent capabilities represent a massive shift, stating, “Systems are starting to deliver outcomes that were not planned or designed, and that’s huge!”
He introduces Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) as a parallel to how humans learn: systems that evolve to handle diverse, complex tasks. While GAI holds potential to surpass current AI boundaries, Victor underscores a critical difference: GAI’s ability to think, reason, and create is still in its infancy.
“Humans remain the closest example of GAI — capable of mastering any domain and building algorithms in our neural networks,” HE explains.
Although AI and GAI share overlaps, AI operates within predicted outcomes, while GAI breaches the “emergence” threshold. Victor mentions that recent developments, like ChatGPT-4 surpassing standardized test performance, demonstrate GAI’s potential to exhibit both IQ and EQ-like capabilities.
However, even the most advanced GAI remains a “dumb system” — dependent on input stimuli to respond. Nevertheless, as digitization expands, GAI-as-a-Service could revolutionize industries.
3. Not Everything New Is Good
While AI is celebrated for its potential, Victor warns leaders to approach it with a balanced perspective. AI’s rapid adoption comes with three major implications:
1. A Tsunami of Innovation and Invention
Victor describes this influx as a “tsunami of innovation” that will disrupt industries, fundamentally altering how businesses operate. Companies must prepare for continuous waves of change.
2. Better, Faster, Cheaper — But at What Cost?
AI enables businesses to optimize efficiency and accessibility, delivering results that previously required significant time and resources. For instance, Victor recounts an example where AI produced a professional-grade photo of a couch in seconds — a task that traditionally involves weeks of planning, travel, and tens of thousands of dollars.
What could possibly be the con here, right?
3. Business Model Disruptions
The combined effects of AI’s innovation and optimization lead to business model disruptions. Companies face increasing competition from AI-enabled businesses with drastically lower cost structures (1/100th of traditional businesses).
Victor emphasizes that this isn’t a challenge for startups alone; businesses of all sizes must prepare. “We’ve never released a technology that could make 30% of the population obsolete in terms of their value-add,” he warns.
While AI might create new jobs in the future, it raises critical questions about unemployment rates and reskilling, it begs the question: will people get left behind?
AI represents both an unprecedented opportunity and a disruptive force. By approaching it strategically, leaders can harness its potential while preparing for its transformative impacts.
If you’d like to dive deeper into Victor’s insights, watch the full video here!