It is the topic of the year in the business world.
Most forums, conferences and executive meetings are about nothing else. Experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are summoned and asked what is going to happen. What needs to be done. Where things are going to go.
I'll tell you the truth.
Nobody knows anything. And anyone who says otherwise is lying.
I'll tell you why. If there's one thing we've learned in the business world and in the so-called business and economic sciences, it's that technological disruptions produce changes that are impossible to predict. We can theorize, we can assume, we can hypothesize. But the number of economic actors and their creative freedom to use technology in one way or another is enormous. We can't guess which will be the most brilliant ideas, the best business models that will change the business landscape. Not only can we not know what they will be, but we also don't know which ones will get funding. And, of those, which ones will take off and grow.
The only thing we economists can be sure of is this: this is a full-fledged revolution and it will be on par with what the Internet was in terms of social and business impact. In other words, it will affect all industries without exception, in a transversal and profound way. That is certain. And we can say this because it is a technology that performs human tasks that technology previously did not allow at the prices of generative AI.
The second thing we can say is that it will initially affect processes. What does that mean? It means that, in the short term, the applications, apps and services that will emerge will be aimed at automating certain tasks that are part of a more extensive process. For example, there are applications that screen the CVs of candidates for a job offer. The company in charge of personnel selection will not disappear, but one of its processes, which was previously carried out by people, will now be carried out by AI. This will happen at many levels and in different processes and industries. That will be where the first business opportunities will be.
This means that the most immediate impact will be on professionals who perform these tasks. They will have to be relocated or move on to other tasks with added value and a human nature.
In the future, new companies will emerge whose strategy and business model is based on AI. These will be the ones that will take other companies by storm. But it will take longer to arrive.
And there is little more we can know for now.
