Dive Brief:
- More than half of knowledge workers believe generative AI has the potential to advance their careers, according to a Salesforce survey conducted in partnership with YouGov.
- Knowledge workers on average expect generative AI use to save them five hours per week at work, according to the survey published Wednesday of more than 4,000 full-time knowledge workers across sales, service, marketing and commerce based in the U.S., U.K. and Australia.
- But many don’t have the skills needed to use the tool safely and effectively. More than 2 in 5 workers said they don’t know how to keep first-party data secure when using generative AI technology, according to the survey.
Dive Insight:
While generative AI’s potential impact is expected to boost employee productivity, business leaders need to remain diligent regarding governance practices. Implementing and communicating clear guidelines in generative AI use policies can support businesses as they navigate experimentation and adoption.
Mistakes can happen, though. Samsung Electronics made headlines earlier this year when employees in the company’s semiconductor business unit put sensitive corporate data into ChatGPT, leading the company to implement an upload capacity per prompt.
Apple, JPMorgan and other large companies have reportedly restricted internal use of ChatGPT due to data privacy concerns.
Vendors are targeting this hurdle to enterprise generative AI adoption by giving users more control over chat history and tools that keep data housed in already established platforms. Even with improvements, it’s on tech leaders to communicate the gravity of following data security protocols to employees and clearly identify appropriate use cases.
To bridge skills gaps, more than two-thirds of knowledge workers expect their employer to provide upskilling opportunities related to generative AI, according to Salesforce data.
But knowledge workers aren’t alone in feeling unprepared for generative AI adoption as tech leaders feel pressured to keep up with advancements. Three in 10 senior IT executives said keeping up with AI is a major challenge, and more than one-quarter feel stressed daily about safeguarding data and systems, according to a report by an Asana think tank.
