Workday Podcast: Why Generative AI Is a Make or Break Moment for CIOs

Audio also available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Generative AI is not just revolutionizing industries; it's redefining society itself. For CIOs, this means navigating an exciting yet complex new landscape of technological innovation. The challenge lies not just in keeping up but also in knowing exactly where to begin.

In this episode of the Workday Podcast, Jim Stratton, Workday chief technology officer, interviews Andy McAfee, a principal research scientist at MIT Sloan School of Management, about the impact of generative AI on business and society. They discuss how generative AI can significantly enhance organizational efficiency and competitive advantage by automating repetitive tasks and augmenting human capabilities. They also dive into how CIOs can leverage generative AI within their businesses to gain strategic advantage.

Below are a few highlights from McAfee, edited for clarity. Be sure to follow us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts, and remember you can find our entire podcast catalog here.

• "Every powerful technology is used by bad actors, and every technology brings new harms. That is not a reason to shy away from the technology. Our history of putting very powerful technologies to the correct use is a really far-from-perfect history, but it's an encouraging history. I think we humans are actually pretty good at figuring out over time how to use new tools and to put restrictions and guardrails in place when that's necessary."

• "What we've already been seeing is that even as generative AI gets cheaper and more widely available, it is not the great competitive leveler-it is the great competitive differentiator. That's because companies are not alike in their willingness to invest and their ability to harness the benefits of gen AI. This, instead, is going to accentuate and accelerate those differences."

• "Executives won't be replaced by technology or artificial intelligence. Instead, those who fail to embrace and utilize these tools will be replaced by those who do. The successful companies of the future will be those that embrace this technological wave of generative AI, not those that turn their backs on it."