Change needs to happen at the top for companies embracing AI: True exec

Organisations should reskill and upskill along with boosting employees’ passion in order to become successful in artificial intelligence (AI) transformation, a senior executive from telecom giant True Corporation said.

During the seminar at True Tower in Bangkok last week, the company’s chief human resources officer, Sarinra Wongsuppaluk, said a lot of organisations in Thailand are potentially “AI-ready”, with some proprietary data and digital initiatives in place.

However, she pointed out that only one-third of those companies said they were still left behind due to lack of AI literacy and passion for transformation.

“Becoming ‘AI-first’ requires a change in culture from experience-based, leader-driven decision-making to data-driven decision-making at the front line,” she said, adding that changing the mindset and seeking ways to coexist with AI was important.

She affirmed that AI adoption did not mean employees would lose their jobs, but instead it would offer an opportunity to achieve greater success in their career.

AI is machine learning, so it has a weakness in decision making. For instance, AI-driven cars cannot decide if they should escape an accident on the road, so humans should offer skills that AI cannot do, she explained.

Sarinra suggested that top executives should take a leading role in driving AI transformation by setting a vision and organisation culture, as well as encouraging employees to have passion in AI adoption.

She said executives and employees need skills to understand and use AI effectively, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and analytical thinking. “Hence, the human resource department must understand how to build an AI-first organisation and provide knowledge to all personnel,” she said.

She added that the new generation did not have to graduate in IT-related fields, but they should be tech savvy to understand how to use data effectively.

“To fully enable this, change must first happen at the top. AI-first organisations need executives who understand this new technology and are entrepreneurial enough to adopt it,” she added.

True Corporation aims for 100% automation of its repetitive processes by 2027, making AI a critical success factor for the organisation. The company also has ambitions to enable Thai businesses to adopt smart solutions, with True Digital Group offering services that would allow businesses to leapfrog to AI.

This is set to increase the share of AI-driven revenue in digital services to 30% over the next three years.

Positive view on AI tools

Some 58% of office workers want AI tools to help with their daily tasks, according to an Automation Generation 2023 survey of 6,460 office workers across eight countries.

The survey by AI automation company UiPath also showed positive results in workplaces, including more productivity (48%) and more work-life balance (36%).

For instance, finance employees of Japanese multinational food and biotechnology corporation Ajinomoto said 95% of their workload was reduced after using AI with their daily focused report, said Jess O'Reilly, area vice president for Asia at UiPath.

She predicted that in the next decade, AI would increase the global gross domestic product by US$7 trillion (258.41 trillion baht).

AI in education

Meanwhile, the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce is currently in talks with tech companies like Huawei on integrating AI and generative AI to its students and officials.

The integration will be conducted in the next academic year which includes offering AI-powered applications to students, and improving fast and secure digital infrastructure, Porames Songsaengterm, the university vice president for IT, said on Monday.

He said this move aimed to close a digital literacy gap between students and officials, improve the university’s operational efficiency and enable students to achieve success in their career path.

He made it clear that students would not gain advantage from AI adoption because lecturers would evaluate their work based on their performance.

“Students enrolled in university are creative and sometimes officials cannot follow them. Hence, officials should see what they are interested in and what we can do for them,” he said.