To Succeed With AI, Give up Control
We're used to 'pulling' information from computers. We need to let AI 'push' work to us instead.
Sarah Hinkfuss is a partner at Bain Capital Ventures
In 2023, companies large and small engaged in a mania around artificial intelligence to capture a slice of the action. Publicly traded companies mentioned AI more than 30,000 times on earnings calls, and private companies launched their own announcements, pilots and productivity projects. Now, executives are looking for a financial return on their investment—and finding little. Among publicly traded software companies, analysts say only Microsoft has shown any additional revenue and profit from generative AI.
Unlocking the value of generative AI requires moving to a new model that is counterintuitive at best and heretical at worst: We need to give up more control to AI. Instead of making our work easier by asking questions of AI services (think copilots or assistants such as ChatGPT), we have to let the AI do work for us.