News / Industry starting to reap benefits of AI – but risks grow alongside

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2024 is the year organisations will begin deriving business value from AI, according to consultancy McKinsey & Co, but additional investment for cyber security can’t be ignored.  

“If 2023 was the year the world discovered generative AI, this is the year organisations truly began using – and deriving business value from – this new technology,” said McKinsey.  

Its latest global survey found 65% of respondents reported their organisation regularly using AI, nearly double the percentage from a survey 10 months ago.  

It also found that these organisations saw the most meaningful revenue increase in supply chain and inventory management, with 53% reporting profit in this area as a result of AI adoption, and 46% also reported a cost decrease.  

Indeed, according to Research and Markets, AI is set to make supply chains 45% more effective in timely and error-free product delivery. It predicts some 50% of organisations will be using AI-enabled tools to support their supplier contract negotiations by 2027.     

Adrian Stoch, chief automation officer at GXO, explained that “repetitive tasks” were the ones that should be automated.  

“If we’re replacing the jobs that are the most laborious, repetitive and menial, that means I’m freeing up my staff to do special projects and value-added services, to increase customers’ end user experience,” he told The Loadstar.  

And Mr Stoch added that when looking at the future of automation, he had an “extremely positive world view”.  

“If hundreds of warehouses and factories are going to be doing that, it will result in overall increased value to society… we have increased satisfaction and safety of workers, and end products and services have increased as well,” he explained.  

But while the benefits of AI are numerous, the market also must proceed with caution, warned technology consultancy Gartner. Threat environments are becoming more complex, and successful cyber-attacks have increased in both volume and impact.  

Mr Stoch acknowledged that “the more digital a company gets, the more data is created, the more data is out there and the more risk there is of exposure”. 

And thus, cyber-attacks were “a very big and real concern for any organisation”, and mitigation should be taken seriously, he said.  

“Cyber-risk management is an integral part of modern business management,” urged Gartner, adding that if companies are investing in AI, they should also be investing in cyber security.  

Its director analyst, Deepti Gopal, predicts that by 2026, 70% of boards will include one member with cyber security experience.