- A big mistake businesses make when deploying AI is assuming everyone needs to be a builder, an expert told Tech.co
- Businesses shouldn’t be worried about having a dedicated group of AI champions who can build tools for the wider company
- AI skills, while important, aren’t the only skill employees need in this new era of work
Shams Chauthani, CTO at Tempo Software, recently told Tech.co that the biggest mistake he sees businesses making with AI is assuming everyone needs to be a builder.
Instead, he believes having a dedicated group of AI builders, or AI champions, that understand the technology, will save businesses time and resources.
Furthermore, AI skills aren’t the only valuable currency as we move into this new era of work. Human skills such as leadership and emotional intelligence remain key as we move further into automation.
Train the Tools, Not the People
Since the technology first started to make waves, workers have been invited to embrace AI. Using it came with affirmation-like wisdom: you’ll be more productive, you’ll save time, you can build anything you like.
With this, there was encouragement to experiment, to reimagine daily workflows entirely. In some companies, AI use became a performance indicator, and out of this metric, tokenmaxxing entered. And then, thankfully, quickly left.
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“Tokenmaxxing doesn’t get you anywhere,” Shams Chauthani, chief technology officer at Tempo Software, told Tech.co in an exclusive interview.
However, one of the bigger mistakes Chauthani says he made when introducing AI, and one he still sees businesses making today, is assuming everybody needs to be a builder in the AI era.
“[It was] a waste of time, effort, and resources,” he told me. Instead, businesses should “train the tools, not the people.”
What this means practically, is knowing who your builders are from the go, and letting them create the benefit for everybody else.
Having AI Champions Isn’t a Bad Thing
When thought about in practice, having a dedicated group of AI builders that have built and know your company’s tools, makes complete sense for businesses battling limited time and resources.
On the one hand, while letting all workers build something out of AI encourages creativity, it also means taking the time to train each employee on how to build with AI. Time which many companies may find difficult to find.
Likewise, AI use is becoming expensive. Businesses need to understand immediately where their money is going, otherwise they risk overspending.
To be clear, we’re talking about AI builders here, not AI users. Training employees on how AI works and how it should be used is a non-negotiable, particularly as AI continues to pose serious security and privacy risks if deployed recklessly.
Leaders should provide the foundations for any employee using company AI and should ensure training is consistently monitored and updated as needed. Similarly, workers should be allowed to become experts if they want to.
However, Shauthani advised having dedicated team of experts, who can build the tools needed to push the company forward, and then share their findings with everyone else. It means impact can be immediately recognized and fostered.
Valuable Skills in the AI Era Go Beyond Using AI
In our interview, Chauthani acknowledged that the nature of work is changing.
“It’s changing from human-centric work to more of a collaboration between AI and humans.”
It’s likely we’ll see a collaborative structure between AI and humans in the future, and in some industries, the change is already happening.
However, in this new age of work, AI skills are not the only necessities. Not everybody needs to be a builder.
For example, decision-making and critical thinking abilities remain essential, as human judgement trumps AI output. Similarly, emotional intelligence, active listening, and communication remain paramount for building relationships between clients, consumers, and brands.
Good leaders provide opportunities for employees to upskill. The ability to build and deploy AI systems is undoubtedly a valuable one today, but human-focused skills remain vital as more and more work is offloaded.
