March 2023 marks one of significant moments in AI development and real-life implementation. Only a few months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, many people saw opportunities and noticed drastic changes in the way they work. Both Google and Microsoft also rushed in to catch up with the trend and announced the addition of AI capabilities to their services.
The massive changes in the way people work have happened multiple times since the 1980s. There was the introduction of the PC that enabled small businesses to use computers, which dramatically increased their work efficiency. There was the launch of smartphones which paved the way for new businesses such as application streaming, ride services, and food deliveries. Cloud services democratized access to high-quality infrastructure for all businesses when they began around 2000.
The launch of Microsoft 365 Copilot is a significant indication that the way we work with computers has changed forever. We have progressed from having to learn how to command computers by learning the complex UIs of each program or by learning to code in various programming languages.
Copilot and ChatGPT demonstrate how computers can understand humans in their natural language. Business users now have access to more features of the software they already have. Soon, many of computers’ abilities will be unlocked as AI can understand direct commands from users. Complex Excel formulas that previously took a long time to learn will be available to a much wider range of users without the need for training.
Microsoft states that the introduction of AI is no different from the impact of calculators, which helped unlock our potential and allowed us to take on more challenging tasks by leaving calculations to the machines. A large language model (LLM) is like a calculator for other written tasks that are not calculations. People now shift to providing writing guidelines and editing instead of writing the documents themselves.
These changes are greatly affecting the way we work. From now on, work processes may no longer start from scratch. The assistance of AI provides us with more time to spend on the actual creation and helps us get better results in less time. These changes will apply to several lines of work, including content creation and paperwork that used to require a large workforce. Even the way developers work will change. Organizations that can adapt to these changes will certainly have an advantage in the near future.
