I've got 7 Key Takeaways -  Hope they help you make AI² work for you …

#1. THE AGENT DOES THE WORK. A PERSON STILL DECIDES:

This phrase came up again and again. Humans still own the things that matter most: imagination, critical thinking, judgement and evaluation. In fact, Artificial Intelligence can sometimes do too much, adding extra material nobody asked for. Someone has to steer it. That’s AI² in action. Artificial Intelligence does the heavy lifting, and people bring the judgement and deliver the ‘Authentic Interactions’. AI does the work. Your people make the difference.

#2. CLOSE THE CONFIDENCE GAP:

There’s a big gap between what bosses think and what their people think when it comes to Artificial Intelligence. In the UK, 84% of business leaders believe the UK can become a world-leading AI economy within five years. Only 41% of employees agree. That gap needs closing, and it won’t close if it’s just left to the IT team. What does your 'gap' look like?

#3. START WITH THE PROBLEM, NOT THE TOOL:

When it comes to technology, too many businesses buy the shiny tool first and look for a use for it afterwards. The winners start with the value they want to create for their customers and their people. What does it mean for you? Ask how Artificial Intelligence can help you deliver what customers want, how it can improve it and how it can help you be ‘Dramatically and Demonstrably Different’. Pick a process. Not a tool. Ask yourself “Where are our blockages, frustrations, and pain?” Then rank the options on value, feasibility, scalability and impact. Get going with just one of them.

#4. AI MAKES ‘CRAP’ THINGS ‘CRAPPER’:

One line on a slide really stayed with me: “An agent added to a broken process just lengthens the queue at the next step.” My interpretation was if your customer journey is ‘crap’, Artificial Intelligence will just make it ‘crapper’… faster! In fact, Microsoft openly admitted they’d got this wrong themselves at their first attempt. It gave Copilot licences to more than 100,000 employees. Usage went up, but the business barely moved. What worked for them was simplifying the workflow first, then bringing in agents.

#5: ONE TASK, ONE PROBLEM, ONE SOLUTION:

Nationwide Building Society’s approach was refreshingly simple: one task, one problem, one solution.They focused on getting one thing working, then moved on to the next.

I also liked the way Microsoft talked about building Lovable Viable Products, not just Minimum Viable ones!

#6. USE AI TO CREATE TIME FOR MEANINGFUL 'CONVERSATIONS':

And I mean genuine, personalised 'human' conversations! Did you know we’re interrupted roughly every two minutes during core hours! That’s according to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index that found that 80% of the global workforce say they lack the time or energy to do their work. Interestingly, 53% of leaders say productivity must increase - there's definitely a mismatch somewhere!

One example that was shared shows just what Artificial Intelligence can change: We heard how a missed shipment that typically took 31 hours to sort out was fixed in 20 minutes: the agent drafted a reroute and a 'real' person approved it. She then rang the customer “to talk, not to apologise.” That sentence sums up AI² for me. The Artificial Intelligence handles the process, which frees the human to create 'Authentic Interactions' that 'Maximise the Customer Relationship'.

#7. ENGAGE, EMPOWER AND ENABLE YOUR PEOPLE!:

The biggest barrier isn’t the tech. It’s people who keep doing the same things. The organisations making AI² work are giving their people dedicated time to learn BOTH the 'Artificial Intelligence' skills AND the ‘Authentic Interaction’ skills. They're building a “learn-it-all” culture rather than a “know-it-all” one. They 'Champion Their Champions'and reward people for having a go and using good judgement.

So, 3 questions to encourage people in your business to ask themselves have to move from...

• “How do I use this technology?” to “How can it improve what we do?”
• "What does it do?" to 'How can it help us do things better?"
• "What do we ought to do?" to "What do we NEED to do'?)"

THE BOTTOM LINE… MY MAIN TAKEAWAY:

Artificial Intelligence on its own is just technology. Paired with genuine, human ‘Authentic Interactions’ it becomes a real competitive advantage. That’s AI²! It has to be driven by senior leaders who need to engage, empower and enable their people to ‘deliver’!

If you want to find out more about AI² just click here!

If you want any help to help your people make work or help your leaders establish, embed and live it, please get in touch - you'll get a 'human' response I promise!

(ps. This blog article was ‘drafted’ by Claude on the train back home using the notes and photos I took on the day – I then edited it ‘humanly’ (that’s how the word ‘crap’ got in it!)