This Star Wars Day, master AI like a Jedi

Star Wars Day is an opportunity to meditate on what businesses can learn from the Jedi about harnessing the power of new technology, says Nigel Vaz

“Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” These words, spoken by Yoda, the best-known of all Jedi masters, could equally serve as the mission for digital business transformation everywhere. They capture the essence of letting go of attachment to our past, to grow for the future – both as individuals and as organisations. 

Today is International Star Wars Day, when fans recognise the timeless relevance of George Lucas’ globally popular movie franchise. It’s been 47 years since the original Star Wars movie was released. In that time, we’ve witnessed the most extraordinary advances in digital technology, which in turn have transformed the way we live,

If there is a wider relevance for business leaders, it is the importance of equipping ourselves and our organisations with the capabilities necessary to keep pace with the change happening continually around us. To effectively unlock ‘business Jedi’ power and bend ‘the force’ of technological advancement to our needs, leaders need to let go of the things that made them successful in the past and make room for new skills, relationships and ways of working. The most fundamental change any individual or company can make is to build the appetite and ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn. 

We stand on the cusp of a new paradigm of humanity’s relationship with technology: AI represents the next wave of technology with potential to unlock dramatic business efficiencies and outcomes and to create new digital products, services and experiences.  

Before setting a course to implement it, business leaders need a strong sense of the role AI will play in their organisation, where it can create actual value, and what the path is to implement AI for optimum effect. 

As the Jedi know, it takes careful thought to ensure any powerful tool is used wisely. Meticulously curated learning programmes and paths for AI tools, catered to all levels of the organisation, empower people to explore and implement without fear of making mistakes. The past year has seen many organisations start to experiment by building AI sandboxes to train models safely and securely and understand both the potential and limitations of AI in the context of their capabilities and circumstances. 

Beyond experimentation, a primary question is how to develop a strategy that will evolve your business in the context of AI. What is your AI North Star vision, the priority value pools that can drive outsized outcomes, and how do your underlying capabilities need to evolve in that context?

Business leaders must show they are aware of the nature and scale of the change, are committed to training and upskilling, and attuned to the performance enhancing potential of AI to the organisation and its people. Any initiative to implement AI should include impact assessment on the business and its workforce: reskilling is an inherent part of AI implementation, not an afterthought.

The speed of development leaves AI susceptible to ethical risk; acknowledging this ‘dark side’ allows us to better mitigate against it. Beyond purely workforce considerations, there is a role for company boards – even new C-level roles such as a chief ethics officer – to have oversight of AI based on an ethics framework that includes principles, transparency, fairness, privacy and data rights, safety and security. 

As we approach a future where AI is all around us, it’s vital that business leaders learn to understand its power, limitations, and the role human insight plays in the mix. By adopting the right mindset for change and applying it in practice, AI can become a powerful catalyst for growth for businesses of all sizes. This Star Wars Day, may that force be with you.

Nigel Vaz is CEO of Publicis Sapient