AI surpasses humans in key workplace tasks, Stanford study reveals

A recent study by Stanford University has shown that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has now surpassed human performance in several workplace tasks such as image classification, basic reading comprehension, visual reasoning and natural language inference. Amid widespread concerns over AI potentially replacing human jobs, the study highlights the increased efficiency of AI in these key areas.

The study, however, did note that AI fell short in more complex tasks such as visual commonsense reasoning, complex mathematics, and planning. It was also observed that AI-assisted staff show improved performance, given the support AI provides for everyday work like data analysis. The study did caution against increasing over-reliance on AI, pointing out that complacency and over-trust in AI results led to a decrease in performance.

The use of AI in the workplace has been echoed by a survey by AND Digital, which stated 75% of CEOs have initiated AI training boot camps this year to keep pace with AI trends. Nearly half of the responding CEOs voiced their concerns about their own positions being threatened by AI technology in the future.

Sheila Flavell CBE, Chief Operating Officer of FDM Group, gave her insights on the evolution of AI in the workplace. She stated, "In our ever-evolving digital landscape, AI is dominating how businesses operate in terms of efficiency and growth. Businesses must continue to upskill and train their staff in AI so they can experience the benefits of these resources and thrive at the same level as high skilled workers." She further emphasised the opportunity AI provides in terms of productivity growth and called for continued AI skills training.

From a geographical perspective, the United States came out on top when it comes to the source of leading AI models, followed by China, the European Union and the United Kingdom. About 61 high-profile AI models were from US-based institutions in 2023. The UK has been significant in its efforts to invest in AI research and development, largely due to the ambitious policies of the Chancellor. There have been regulatory concerns and the UK's competition watchdog is growing apprehensive about AI, leading Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to consider introducing AI regulation to mitigate the growing risks.

Scott Lewis, Senior Vice President at Ataccama, spoke about the role of AI in businesses, stating, "The most successful companies in the future will be those which take full advantage of AI tools, using them to automate necessary yet repetitive manual work, such as data cleansing and transformation to produce the good quality, governed data that is critical for trustworthy AI outcomes, and reallocating employees to more valuable, meaningful work." He advocated for a balanced approach to AI regulations in the UK, to avoid stifling the clear benefits that AI brings in its wake.