[Asia Future Business Forum] "AI Changes the Concept of Productivity... Both an Opportunity and a Crisis for Companies"

11th Asia Future Business Forum Held
Geonbok Lee, Developer Lead at Microsoft Korea
"Rediscovering Productivity in the AI Era"

"Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is both an opportunity and a crisis for businesses."

Geonbok Lee, Developer Lead at Microsoft Korea, made this assessment on the 17th at the 11th Asia Future Business Forum held at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul.

AI is changing the formula for productivity. By using AI to complete tasks that used to take 8 hours in under 5 minutes, it is possible to discover a new meaning of productivity beyond simple work efficiency. How the remaining 7 hours and 55 minutes are spent can lead to experiencing new productivity. He predicted that AI utilization could determine a company's competitiveness by increasing employee engagement, accelerating product development, and improving customer response.

At the '2023 Asia Future Business Forum' held on the 17th at Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, hosted by Asia Economy, Geonbok Lee, Lead Developer at Microsoft Korea, is giving a special lecture. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

On the other hand, he warned that the rise of generative AI could become a crisis for companies. Companies that fail to utilize AI effectively may be left behind. As all apps and services move to AI-based platforms, companies that cannot leverage AI will inevitably fall behind in the survival competition.

Another challenge is the raised expectations of customers as AI becomes more widespread. Lee said, "AI is no longer the domain of IT industry experts, to the extent that even elementary school students ask ChatGPT questions they don't know," adding, "This means all services must meet the expectation levels of a public familiar with AI."

Lee emphasized that companies must ensure safety to respond to the AI era. AI is a statistical model and therefore not perfect. A typical example is AI producing incorrect results after learning from faulty data. In such cases, companies cannot take full responsibility for the outcomes but must ensure transparency regarding the data. Furthermore, companies should have safety principles for AI use, such as giving decision rights to data owners and not using customer data for training.

Lee said, "The development of conversation came after the invention of photography," and added, "With the advent of the AI era, the challenge left is whether we can do more human and creative work in the remaining time beyond maximizing efficiency."