Artificial intelligence has been part of our lives and business for a long time.

However, in recent months, the subject suddenly seems to have become a particularly hot topic, with dire warnings of the need to control and regulate the rise of AI.

This is combined with the buzz around programmes such as ChatGPT, which can analyse large amounts of data in order to produce written responses to requests put to them by human beings. 

The question seems to be not whether AI and chatbots will begin to play a part in your business but how they are doing it already.

Professor James Falcounbridge, from the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology at Lancaster University Management School, says although ChatGPT is the programme which is currently attracting a lot of attention, there are other less advanced systems for businesses to consider.

“Organisations that are more advanced, potentially could think about using these kinds of AI driven chatbots, “ he says.

“But if we’re talking about a business that does nothing more than use Microsoft Office to write Word documents, create simple Excel file and send emails, it’s probably a bit of a leap to think suddenly that ChatGPT and AI and automation should be the next concern, because there’s a number of other steps that probably want to be taken along the way first.

"The question for every organisation is what does technology mean for you and what is the right choice?

"The answer won’t be the same for everybody. A big leap from nothing to the far extreme is probably not realistic and useful.”

James has been working with professional services businesses such as accountants and legal firms around how AI can be applied to their sectors.

He says there is potential for jobs such as document reviews or sampling accounts to be farmed out to AI, taking the burden off junior staff who currently do much of this work.

However, even if computers are used to do the grunt work of sifting through documents and data, a human being is still needed to review what they have found and decide what to do with the information.

This has the potential to actually make someone’s job more rewarding by cutting out trawling through page after page of documents with a highlighter pen.