Kind of a work-y post. Fairly warned.
So I had some training recently, explaining how I can use some AI tools at work. It got me thinking, and I read some articles (company had subscriptions, sorry there’s a pay wall for some links). Everywhere you look, people are talking about how AI is going to revolutionize business. If you listen to they hype then AI is the secret sauce to a competitive edge. But is it really?
I read an HBR article, “AI Won’t Give You a New Sustainable Advantage.” Long story short: If you rely on AI for long-term success, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment.
There’s a distinction between creating value and capturing value. It’s not enough to simply do things better or faster with AI; you need to ensure those improvements translate into a lasting advantage over your competitors.
Some companies are already using AI to improve customer service, resulting in significant cost savings. While this is impressive, it’s not enough to create a sustainable competitive advantage; because pretty soon everybody’s going to be doing this. AI-generated product designs outperform human-created ones. But even this innovation can be replicated.
So, if AI alone isn’t the answer, what is? The HBR article says that the key lies in leveraging AI to amplify your existing competitive advantages. Think of AI as a supercharger for your business, boosting what you’re already good at.
Amazon is a great example. They’re not dominating because of AI alone, but because of their strong foundation: a vast supplier network, efficient logistics, customer-centric culture, and decades of data-driven insights. Then AI supercharges those strengths, giving them an even greater edge.
But the principle applies to any other business. Identify your unique strengths and use AI to amplify them. Maybe you have a strong brand. Maybe you have key relationships with customers. You should use AI to leverage that even further. Double down on your own super-power.
Long story short, AI is not a magic bullet. To achieve a sustainable advantage, you need to combine AI with your existing strengths and focus on creating value. Sounds easy, right?
Now you just have to figure out how to do that.
B.S. Donovan 
Good points. I think it’s important to distinguish machine learning (data improvement) from generative AI responses. Either are important in trying to leverage for business. The former works with data that’s usually internal. The latter often takes external information and does something with it. And needs to be carefully checked by humans before that data is used. You’re right that figuring this out is going to be something to figure out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I’m sure that there’s a lot that I’m not “getting” about AI. Most of what my company was introducing was copilot or gpt, which is probably generative, and what most people think of, whereas what the HBR article was describing was data improvement.
I’m personally not really sure, which is why my thoughts were random.
Thanks.
LikeLike
Everything you said makes perfect sense. AI is a tool and very valuable tool for business development. What I am still trying to figure out is how to use it for me, a retired octogenarian. I am also disillusioned in it as anything of value, especially since AI lies. Where’s the value of a lying tool?
LikeLiked by 1 person
What indeed is the value of a tool that is unreliable? Unfortunately, the chat-like functionality is probably going to be widely used and be highly engaging, which is what it is trained to be (or anyway the AI you’ll see from Facebook and the like). That will mean that much of the impact of AI is and will be to perpetuate lying. Anyway, the lies you want to hear.
LikeLike