How Generative AI Could Give Us Back At Least 40% Of Our Time

Generative artificial intelligence may be creating both a lot of excitement and uncertainty, but one thing is clear: its most realistic role will be that of a prosthetic for the brain, enabling executives and professionals to expand their horizons — not to mention their schedules.

“Our research has found the biggest benefit of generative AI is adding human productivity,” says Allison Horn, managing director of Accenture’s talent and organization consulting services. “We estimate as much as 40% of working hours will be augmented or automated by generative AI.” This time savings will be seen across a number of areas, she relates: “from advisor and creative partner, to coding, protecting and automating processes. From an always-on advisor that puts new kinds of intelligence in people’s hands to a creative partner that offers new ways to reach and appeal to audiences.”

Another way of looking at it is to think back to the waning days of the manual slide rule. (Watch the movie Apollo 13 to see them at their finest hour.) “An analogy for AI I’ve been thinking about – at least for generative AI chatbots like ChatGPT – is that they’re a bit like ‘calculators for writing,’” says Kevin Tate, chief marketing officer at Clearbit. “We all learn long division in school – and it’s important to learn how to do math long-hand so that you understand the underlying concepts. But in everyday life, everyone just uses a calculator because it’s impractical not to.”

Not only will generative AI save time, but also act as a trusted assistant. “For high value tasks where accuracy is critical, AI will be most effectively deployed in a co-pilot or coaching capacity,” says Jake Saper, general partner with Emergence Capital, and investor in AI companies. “It will offer real-time suggestions to a worker on how best to accomplish their goal. It will learn from what the human does with the suggestions, what the business outcomes are, and will use this data to improve suggestions for everyone else in the network. At Emergence, we call this a Coaching Network.”

The vast majority of executive or professional careers going forward “are more likely to be influenced or augmented by some of AI’s time-saving abilities,” says Tate. “For example, teams of salespeople, content creators or business operations managers won’t ‘cease to exist, but they may be smaller, more productive teams – that spend less of their time doing repetitive, administrative work.”

That doesn’t mean executives suddenly have all this free time (that 40%) to go home and relax. With the emergence of AI, perhaps paradoxically, there will be more demand to keep people and their organizations aligned and moving in the right direction — and an innovative one at that. “Analytical thinking and creative thinking are the most important skills,” says Horn. “Now, how these skills are applied to future jobs will continually adapt, but the role of the human as a thought partner will remain unchanged.”

Essential skills for the AI age include “creativity, attention to detail and critical reasoning,” Saper agrees. “We’ll need the human to cross-check the suggestions made by AI to ensure accuracy and logic tightness. We’ll also need them to leverage their creativity to edit suggestions or create entirely novel responses to achieve their intended outcome. A key skill of application builders going forward will be developing user interfaces that get that most out of this human/machine relationship.”

Generative AI “will require ongoing guidance by humans, creating higher-order cognitive work involving judgment, insight, moral reasoning, and innovation,” Horn advises. “Companies will need to invest in their people to prepare them for a world where they will have AI working alongside them as a partner.”

With AI as an able assistant, “perhaps teams will be able to focus more on the strategy, reasoning and judgment that surround that information — meaning that the ability to make smart decisions, likely based on data presented with the help of AI, will become a bigger factor in more people’s jobs,” says Tate.