AI is transforming the art of the possibleShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via emailAI has forever redefined the rate of innovationDid you know it took Heny Ford 17 years to turn his initial automotive design into the Model T – “the car that put America on wheels”? Microsoft was founded in 1975, yet, the resulting IBM PC – the first major step towards making personal computers accessible for all – wasn’t launched until 1981.Microsoft founder Bill Gates once famously said: “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years.” In today’s era of AI, the time has come for us to rethink this maxim. Because now what’s achievable in six, 12 or 18 months has changed forever.AsFrancesca Colenso, Director of the Azure Business Group for Microsoft UK, says: “AI development is accelerating at a breathtaking pace. There are a few reasons for this.“Greater interest in the field has driven an increase in funding, which, in turn, is fuelling innovation. While the compute that powers AI systems continue to double every six months or so, we’re seeing an influx of new patent filings and the time between new GPT and Copilot iterations is getting shorter and shorter. To put it simply, AI has forever redefined our understanding of innovation and how long progress takes.”Taking an idea from conception to production can now happen faster than ever, accelerating innovation timelines and transforming the art of the possible.Innovation moves faster than you thinkNationwide boosts customer service with data and AIThe world’s largest building society, serving around 17 million customers with more than 600 branches in the UK, has expanded its use of generative AI to deliver even better experiences for customers and colleagues. By using GPT-4 within Azure OpenAI to help generate letters, average response times have dropped from 45 minutes to 10-15 minutes – an efficiency improvement of around 66%. This use of generative AI to support back-office operations has enabled Nationwide to deal with customer queries faster, while colleagues are freed up to focus on serving more customers with potentially more complex issues.Pets at Home stops fraudsters with AI agentsPart of the beauty of AI lies in its ability to help navigate complexity, as the UK’s largest pet care company Pets at Home has recently discovered. Copilot Studio has enabled Pets at Home to streamline huge amounts of data with an AI-powered agent for their retail fraud team. The agent helps identify anomalies and patterns of behaviour that point to suspicious activity, such as improper returns or coupon abuse. These are common issues for large retailers, and manually processing data to spot patterns can be time intensive.“The ability to bring in artificial intelligence and agents to work alongside our colleagues, gives them quicker insights and ways to be more efficient. We’re also finding it helps improve our overall consumer service, with colleagues able to spend more time interacting with people,” says Simon Ellis, the head of AI transformation and enterprise architecture at Pets at Home.Pets at Home.Photograph: Jonathan Banks for MicrosoftCopilot Studio’s ability to rapidly sift through large volumes of data has proved invaluable in spotting and stopping fraudsters, while protecting Pets at Home’s loyal customers.A&O Shearman disrupts the legal sectorMultinational law firm A&O Shearman was an early adopter of generative AI, having started trialling the technology in 2022. It didn’t take long for the firm to reap the rewards.“As lawyers, we’re extremely focused on risk management,” says David Wakeling, partner and head of A&O Shearman’s Markets Innovation Group (MIG). “My team and I looked at generative AI, and quickly realised it was going to be disruptive.”The firm started experimenting with AI to augment legal processes, such as contract negotiation, in November, and achieved its objective of rolling out new AI tools to 2,000 lawyers across 43 jurisdictions by Christmas 2022. Using AI for contract drafting now saves A&O Sherman’s lawyers around seven hours on average – a 30% efficiency gain.How to go faster, responsiblyHowever, speed isn’t everything. “Today’s rate of innovation poses new challenges for businesses,” says Colenso. “How do we make that leap from concept to implementation – and do so responsibly? AI represents an incredible opportunity to accelerate business transformation, but it’s human nature to find rapid change uncomfortable, even when it’s positive. It’s essential to follow a process that balances speed, innovation and integrity.”Step one: ideationEvery AI journey begins with an idea. AI democratises the innovation process, enabling more people to bring their ideas to life, faster. But given the vast range of potential use cases, the challenge is often knowing where to start.The most successful projects focus first on what the organisation needs – whatpeopleneed, whether they’re employees, clients or customers. Ideas bear fruit more rapidly when ideation is collaborative. Bringing in people from departments across the organisation ensures the challenges you choose to tackle are deeply aligned with the organisation’s vision and objectives.This step often takes around a month, but remember, ideation is a like a muscle organisations can continuously develop. It strengthens with consistent practice over time.Step two: integrationDuring this phase, ideas are developed to become viable proofs of concept, supported by solid technical foundations as well as sound governance and oversight.Having legal and HR colleagues involved as part of a steering committee or “AI circle of excellence” helps ensure that when time and energy are invested, they’re invested in responsible and ethical applications. Putting proper guard rails in place during this stage can take a couple of months, yet enables you to move faster later on.It also helps to innovate on trusted cloud and data platforms like Azure, as our customers benefit from the world’s most advanced infrastructure with security, privacy and sustainability at its core. With Azure and Azure AI,your data is your data. It’s never used to train other foundational AI models.Step three: implementationImplementation is about taking a proof of concept to full production, making AI applications live and putting them in the hands of employees or customers. This is when education, skills and change management programmes become especially important. AI can only scale if it’s adopted, which is about people, culture and community as much as it is about technology. This is often the most challenging stage and can take between three to six months.Throughout it all: integrityClear, human values must underpin every stage of AI development. The technology’s potential can only be fulfilled if we keep people at the centre, and act with integrity. When leaders are clear on their organisation’s values and principles – and show they will stay true to them – it helps people stay grounded and adapt to change more successfully.This is exactly why Microsoft published detailed guidance aroundsix core principles for responsible AI– fairness, safety, privacy, inclusivity, transparency and accountability – which we recommend any business leader read and consider, before stepping up AI efforts within their organisation.What comes next?The timelines will vary for every organisation. Some may take longer, while others progress faster and run multiple AI projects in parallel. However, if we can all balance speed with patience, while maintaining our commitment to socially fair development, cultural adoption, and skills growth, a more innovative future with AI is assured.To learn more about accelerating your AI journey, please visit theMicrosoft Azure UK home page.This content is paid for and supplied by the advertiser. 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