In conjunction with adding new features and expanding access to its generative AI offering, MS 365 Copilot, Microsoft has also released new data and insights from its 2023 Work Trend Index report: “Will AI Fix Work”.
The research shows that the pace of work has accelerated faster than humans can keep up with and that it’s impacting innovation. Next-generation AI will lift the weight of work, the company says, and organisations that move first to embrace AI will break the cycle – increasing creativity and productivity for everyone.
“This new generation of AI will remove the drudgery of work and unleash creativity,” says Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “There’s an enormous opportunity for AI-powered tools to help alleviate digital debt, build AI aptitude, and empower employees.”
The report shares three key insights for business leaders as they look to understand and responsibly adopt AI for their organisation:
* Digital debt is costing us innovation: We’re all carrying digital debt: The volume of data, emails, and chats has outpaced our ability to process it all. There is an opportunity to make our existing communications more productive. Every minute spent managing this digital debt is a minute not spent on creative work. Sixty-four percent of employees don’t have enough time and energy to get their work done – and those employees are 3,5x more likely to say they struggle with being innovative or thinking strategically. Of time spent in Microsoft 365, the average person spends 57% communicating and only 43% creating.
* There’s a new AI-employee alliance: For employees, the promise of relief outweighs job loss fears and managers are looking to empower employees with AI, not replace. Forty-nine percent of people say they’re worried AI will replace their jobs, but even more – 70% – would delegate as much work as possible to AI in order to lessen their workloads. In fact, leaders are 2x more likely to say that AI would be most valuable in their workplace by boosting productivity rather than cutting headcount.
* Every employee needs AI aptitude: Every employee, not just AI experts, will need new core competencies such as prompt engineering in their day to day. Eighty-two percent of leaders anticipate employees will need new skills in the AI era and, as of March 2023, jobs on LinkedIn in the US mentioning GPT have increased by 79% year over year. This new, in-demand, and AI-centric skillset will have ripple effects across everything from resumes to job postings.
“The pace and volume of work have increased exponentially and are outpacing humans’ ability to keep up,” says Jared Spataro, CVP, modern work and business applications. “In a world where creativity is the new productivity, digital debt is more than an inconvenience – it’s a threat to innovation. Next-generation AI will lift the weight of work and free us all to focus on the work that matters.”