One of the greatest challenges organizations encounter in expanding their use of artificial intelligence (AI) is fostering productive coexistence between human workers and AI, according to a new whitepaper released by CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the tech industry and workforce.
Increased technology infrastructure costs to enable greater use of AI and concerns about cybersecurity and privacy are other top challenges companies are addressing, CompTIA’s “Building AI Strategy” reveals.
“Finding the best balance between their employees and new AI tools is front and center for many companies,” said Seth Robinson, vice president, industry research, CompTIA. “There seems to be genuine interest in making their workforce more efficient through strategic AI applications and targeted upskilling.”
Skills building requirements will be closely linked to an organization’s business plans and AI implementation approaches. The majority of businesses surveyed expect to invest in existing technology tools—such as customer relationship management, business productivity suites and HR systems—that have AI embedded to provide new features.
“These tools are already integral parts of corporate workflow, and AI will become a powerful new part of a complex solution stack,” Robinson explained. “In this scenario, a company will likely require a low degree of AI expertise across its entire workforce and a high degree of AI expertise in a few select areas.”
CompTIA has created an AI Framework that identifies six areas where skills-building will be more important as AI is adopted throughout the technology stack.
- Cybersecurity professionals will be augmented with AI/ML capabilities to effectively secure their networks.
- Auto coding, where human engagement with AI/ML coding programs will grow.
- Architects will construct the networks where AI and ML live.
- Tech-adjacent staff working with AI will likely need to understand industry specific best practices for prompting AI/ML.
- The data analytics field will continue to evolve alongside AI/ML.
- System operations (SysOps), in business process automation, robotic process automation and other areas, will be enhanced by AI/ML.
Challenges related to the cost of AI implementation will also be affected by the implementation strategy a company follows. In the CompTIA survey, 45% of firms cited the cost of infrastructure to enable AI as a challenge.
“Using cloud solutions or embedded functionality allows them to enjoy AI benefits without developing proprietary systems, thus reducing the likelihood of significant financial outlays,” Robinson said.
Cybersecurity and privacy concerns are also pressing, with 45% of companies ranking it high on the list of challenges. This may be an indicator of lessons learned when many firms leapt into new technology architectures or applications without fully considering the cybersecurity implications.
CompTIA surveyed 521 technology industry professionals on their insights and views on AI in initial stages of adoption. “Building AI Strategy” is available at the website here.
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