Benefits and risk of using AI in business [+AI tools]

Artificial intelligence is certainly the technology set to have a major impact on the future of people and businesses.

It is, of course, a technology that serves and is available to all of humanity, with the inevitable consequence that the benefits and risks associated with artificial intelligence depend primarily on its use.

What Are the Benefits of AI in the Workplace?

1. Automation, productivity and cost reduction

Companies must allocate part of their employees' time to performing repetitive and recurring tasks.

These activities can be automated because artificial intelligence is absolutely capable of repeating standardized activities.
The introduction of this technology into work management therefore has the undoubted advantage of focusing workers on tasks that require more creative and personal involvement.

This translates into the company's ability to reduce costs (no hiring for repetitive tasks) and make the most of the potential of its employees who will feel more interested and stimulated in the workplace resulting in greater engagement and increased productivity.

Apps suggested: Runway, Fireflies, Krisp, Reclaim, Clockwise, Motion

2. Learning and training

One of the most significant expenditure items for a company is that of training its employees, especially if the company wants to be a market leader. Along with high costs, another problem with employee training is the inability of traditional training systems to adapt to the level of knowledge of each individual employee.

Today, with artificial intelligence, it is possible to overcome these problems. In fact, there are applications capable of analyzing employee skills and creating separate training modules based on their strengths and weaknesses.

The advantages of this possibility are enormous both in terms of costs and performance as each employee will be encouraged to learn more and more because each training will result in a challenge.

App: PrepAI

3. Decision making

Artificial intelligence has the ability to quickly analyze large amounts of data, revealing patterns, trends and insights that help improve decision making.

This means that companies can have up-to-date data in real time and make decisions based on well-detailed and accurate data and statistics.
This has an impact on all activities that involve data management.
For example, thanks to this data, companies can adjust their production levels, avoiding overproduction or stock shortages.

Another area of application involves risk assessment: AI systems can analyze large data sets to identify potential risks that might otherwise go unnoticed (e.g., fraudulent transactions or volatile market conditions before they cause significant damage). This proactive approach helps companies mitigate risks in a timely manner, safeguarding their interests.

Apps suggested: Enova, Ocrolus, DataRobot, Scienaptic AI, Zest AI

4. Problem solving

Another sector in which artificial intelligence finds important applications is the predictive one from which companies can derive great advantages, including predicting future results with a high degree of precision.

For example:

• with the predictive analysis of sales it is possible to estimate the trend of revenue growth;

• with predictive maintenance you can help avoid equipment failures.

By integrating intuition with data-based forecasts, companies can pursue opportunities in their sector with greater certainty and reduce unexpected risks to a minimum with the advantage of being able to prepare detailed and more certain planning of production activity.

6. Increase Returns

By definition, the objective of a company is to obtain greater profits. For this reason, artificial intelligence can prove to be an essential ally in achieving the goal.

Artificial intelligence represents an aid technology for businesses because it allows the company to achieve greater profitability thanks to the speed of execution with which it is possible to carry out certain activities today and the reduction of costs that the company must bear to obtain personnel or resources to reach the target.

7. Enhance Customer Satisfaction

Customers can also benefit from the application of this technology within the businesses it serves.

The application of artificial intelligence, in fact, can facilitate the creation of tailored experiences for customers by providing personalized advice and experiences for each customer, based on their preferences and behaviors. Thanks to this information it is possible to give a more adequate response to customer needs.

All this translates into greater satisfaction for the user with greater chances of becoming a customer of the company or recommending it to other people. In other words, this means: commitment, reward and loyalty.

Apps suggested: Help Scout, Custify, Freshdesk, Tidio, HubSpot, Balto, Personalize AI, Dynamic Yield, Intellimize, Adobe Target, Monetate

8. Go-to-market speed and effectivity

Generative AI's ability to examine data, recognize patterns and produce new approaches facilitates innovation and creative problem solving within companies.

Generative artificial intelligence stimulates human inventiveness in the creation of content, in the implementation of projects and in the definition of marketing strategies. This leads to superior results at an accelerated pace.

For istance, one of the most important components of going to market is creating high-quality SEO optimized content that can rank on Google. This in fact allows potential users to find the company online and discover its services.

Apps suggested: Editby, playgroundai, leonardo.ai

9. Analysis of system flaws

With the enormous amount of data generated today, artificial intelligence techniques such as deep learning can help uncover information that is difficult for the human eye to detect within complex data sets.

Advanced algorithms, however, can correlate data, detect anomalies, and reveal relationships that humans cannot easily identify.

This allows companies to not simply analyze what happened, but can understand the reasons and triggers that led to the emergence of a problem.

This information enables companies to make strategic decisions to address emerging opportunities or mitigate potential risks.

In summary, integrating AI capabilities into business intelligence helps companies

• automate processes

• gain deeper insights

• boost predictive power

• provide personalized experiences

• continuously adapt and learn.

By leveraging the strengths of AI, organizations across industries can elevate performance, outpace competition, and drive transformative growth.

2. Risk of using AI in business  

1. Data quality and algorithm bias

Artificial intelligence relies on algorithms to make decisions. Algorithms are trained by humans and datasets.

One of the problems that can concern artificial intelligence is the quality of the results generated due to the type of data on which it is trained.
The quality and integrity of the data used to train AI systems is crucial. Biased or incomplete data leads to biased results.

It's not just about numbers. In fact, even if data is available in large quantities, not all of it is useful for a company. Poor quality data leads to weaker algorithms and poor decisions.

Companies must therefore have and implement rigorous data collection and curation processes, constantly monitoring any hidden biases.

2. Explainability and transparency

Many advanced AI techniques like deep learning are complex black boxes, making it difficult to explain their internal logic.

This lack of transparency can reduce trust in AI and make auditing for biases challenging. Businesses should evaluate explainable AI methods and implement model documentation standards.

While some loss of performance may occur, explainable AI is essential for accountability.

3. Accountability

Artificial intelligence is increasingly used for sensitive tasks such as granting credit. The daily contact between this technology and sensitive data requires that a liability regime be developed.

The problem that has arisen in this regard is that the rapid diffusion of this technology has not been followed by equally rapid legal regulation.

However, it is necessary that legislative schemes are developed as soon as possible in order to be able to clearly attribute responsibility in the event of errors or damage caused by artificial intelligence.

In the absence of strong legal frameworks, it is essential that companies proactively develop auditable AI environments with robust access controls and monitoring. A further desirable effort is to clarify the liability regime already within contracts with suppliers who provide artificial intelligence software/services.

4. Job displacement

Although artificial intelligence creates new roles, it can make many professionals redundant.

One solution to this risk is to support the workers affected through retraining and skill improvement programmes.

In reality, in this way, it is always possible to proceed with an improvement in the skills of workers who can start working in more creative and less repetitive roles.

5. Cybersecurity vulnerabilities

AI expands the attack surface for cybercriminals.

AI could be weaponized to boost malware, target vulnerabilities more efficiently, and automate cyberattacks.

Businesses must implement comprehensive cybersecurity defenses and update them continuously as new threats emerge.

Strict access controls and monitoring are vital for enterprise AI systems. Cybersecurity must evolve alongside AI capabilities to counter AI-enabled threats.

6. Ethical risks

Artificial intelligence can raise complex digital ethics dilemmas regarding privacy, consent, transparency and bias.

These are very delicate issues that often concern fundamental human rights which, if violated, can potentially lead to very serious consequences.

Companies therefore must establish clear ethical boundaries in line with organizational values. Impact assessments should be mandatory before implementing AI, considering that there may only be unintended consequences.

7. Financial investment

Artificial intelligence requires initial investments and substantial expertise. Businesses looking to implement AI internally face costs that include data infrastructure, model development, training and hiring technical talent.

Added to the economic difficulty is the difficulty in identifying competent personnel due to the complex skills required.

Some businesses fail to see the ROI on AI investments.

The key is a pragmatic roadmap aligned to business objectives. Costs must be weighed against measurable benefits. Gradual adoption can demonstrate value before scaling up.

In summary, artificial intelligence thrives on two aspects: broad benefits and problematic risks.

However, the risks of the technology (from data distortion to job losses) can be avoided or limited with responsible implementation focused on transparency, accountability and ethics.

Companies can harness the potential of artificial intelligence to achieve revenue and growth goals while safeguarding the interests of stakeholders.

As always, this time too, the reliability of the system strictly depends on the person who uses it. We therefore hope that all operators decide to exploit the potential of artificial intelligence and to do so in an ethical manner.

Don't forget that leveraging AI-powered tools like Editby, companies can create personalized content that:

• aligns with individual intentions;

• improving the overall customer experience; and

• increasing conversion rates.

Learn more here: Editby

Read more:

• What is AI (Artificial Intelligence)?

• How to implement AI in your organization [Complete Guide]

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