Robot co-workers are coming, AI leaders predict
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AI leaders Kristin Emery, Kellie Romack and Anne Hoecker joined Axios' Jessica Boehm to discuss the future of the digital workplace. Photo: Jessica Boehm/Axios
Last week, I moderated a discussion about embracing AI in the workplace at the Phoenix Global Forum.
Why it matters: The panelists — Kellie Romack (chief digital information officer at ServiceNow), Anne Hoecker (head of technology and cloud services at Bain & Co.) and Kristin Emery (state and local government affairs director at Microsoft) — are working at the cutting edge of AI adoption and provided a fascinating look at how companies will evolve in the coming years to take advantage of this ever-improving technology.
Zoom in: Here are the most interesting things I learned:
1. AI is already paying dividends — when used smartly.
Companies that are serious about using AI to heighten productivity are seeing ROI of hundreds of millions of dollars, Romack said.
- ServiceNow, a software company that deploys AI in workplace systems, has used its software internally to garner $350 million in productivity annually, she said.
- Romack cited an example of a process her sales team uses to track compensation. What once took four days to compute has been brought down to eight seconds with AI.
The other side: Hoecker, who reported similar success, said companies that are not seeing an ROI are often piloting a lot of AI uses but failing to scale, leaving them with "micro-productivity" — a lot of people saving a little bit of time.
- AI is not a magic wand — it's a tool that requires an entire business transformation and embrace to reap real benefits, she said. Otherwise, they'll be stuck with a few cool pilots but no major cost or time savings.
2. Ethical adoption requires business and government buy-in.
Governmental agencies and businesses should work in lockstep to ensure ethical AI deployment that doesn't stifle innovation, the panelists agreed.
State of play: More than 700 AI-related bills have been introduced nationwide just this year, Emery said.
- They range from installing punishments for deepfakes to requiring transparency disclosures.
Between the lines: All three panelists noted that the businesses seeing the most benefit from AI are proactively implementing guardrails to ensure responsible AI use and compliance with national and international standards.
What they're saying: Emery said AI laws must strike a balance of protecting privacy, ensuring transparency and allowing businesses room to innovate.
- "My fear that keeps me up at night is that sometimes legislation is passed too quickly without the input or the thoughtfulness that we need to protect consumers," she said.
3. The future is robots.
While most of us are still embracing generative AI (like ChatGPT), Romack and Hoecker said agentic AI (systems designed to make decisions and achieve specific outcomes without human direction) will be the next big thing over the next 12-18 months.
- This could look like virtual assistants, fully autonomous sales or customer service agents and manufacturing robots with high-level decision-making capacities.
- "Pretty soon on your team you're going to have people and [digital] agents that you work with alongside each other," Hoecker said.
The intrigue: Agentic AI isn't just coming to our workplaces. "We're going to have robots cleaning your house in the next three years," Romack said.
💭 My thought bubble: Now that's a technological advancement I welcome with open arms!