Most of the leap has contributed to higher revenue, sustainability to reduce carbon footprints, while others have made the conversion in order to level the playing field in terms of market share compared with competitors who use AI.

Last year, the sector saw an increase of foundation models with open licenses for large language models (LLMs), only to be spurred on by the rising notoriety of ChatGPT. According to Forbes, the global AI market size was nearly US$100 billion in 2023 and is expected to reach almost $2 trillion by 2030.

AI as the new rat race

Reminiscent of the rivalry of putting a man on the moon, here on Earth, the development of AI has become a race that has captured the attention of the world. Tech giants, such as IBM, have all jumped into the race and are making large investments in creating powerful AI tools.

As the pace of progress accelerates, the most impactful developments may be those focused on governance, middleware, training techniques and data pipelines that make generative AI more trustworthy, sustainable and accessible for enterprises and users.

However, it has to be noted that investment surges are often unstable. The first thing that needs to be shifted is the perception that AI will replace human employment. In fact, the technology is built to enhance human performance if used ethically and holistically. As AI continues to evolve, companies investing in AI should consider a few factors instead of jumping headfirst.

First of all, businesses need a comprehensive business model for how AI will complement their existing workflows and help improve their processes instead of blindly investing in it. Moreover, factors like scalability, cost-effectiveness and ethical considerations should also be considered when investing in an AI solution. Coupled with transparency, adopting a system should also foster trust between employees.

Furthermore, stakeholders need to realize that while technological advancement is moving at an unprecedented accelerated pace, AI is still a new innovation and should be treated as such. It will take some time to reach its full potential and because of the newness of the technology. There is a lack of international regulations in place in certain countries, especially in Indonesia. Therefore, businesses need to come up with their own set of rules and ethics on how to utilize their system.

According to IBM X-Force, IBM Consulting’s offensive and defensive security services arm, the Asia-Pacific region was the third most-targeted geographic region in 2023, accounting for 23 percent of the incidents X-Force responded to globally.

“As is widely known, Indonesia has had its share of security incidents, both in the public and private sectors, so identifying the issues is a first step to securing our data and platforms,” says Roy Kosasih, president director of IBM Indonesia.

However, when used ethically, AI systems can actually be used to increase cybersecurity, data governance and privacy protocols to mitigate the risks of malicious actors’ generative AI inferring private data, unraveling identities or conducting cyberattacks.

For example, IBM offers a service to protect businesses by integrating solutions designed to protect digital users, assets, sensitive data, endpoints and Internet of Things (IoT), and deploying technology to manage defenses against growing security threats. By using cloud, the system enhances access management, network security and endpoint security on all devices.

To prevent encountering issues of integrating an AI system, there are steps that can be taken. This includes setting risk-based priorities, to adjust or establish escalation frameworks so that governance, compliance, risk, internal audit and AI teams give the greatest attention to the greatest risks.

Companies should also always be aware of new updates. With generative-AI-created content ever more common, consider emerging software tools to identify AI-generated content, verify its accuracy, assess it for bias or privacy violations and add citations as needed.

Policymakers around the world are issuing more and more guidance on AI development and usage. This guidance is still a patchwork, not a complete regulatory framework, but new rules are continually emerging. At this point in time, the EU and OECD each have their own sets of AI governance regulations.

Most of all, companies should teach employees the basics of how generative AI works, along with when to use it and when not to. They will also need to learn when and how to verify or modify outputs. Provide compliance and legal teams with skills and software to identify intellectual property violations and other related risks, reinforcing AI governance guidelines and other governance structures that may already be in place.

Increasing human resources

An article published by CNBC last year cited that according to a new survey conducted by UKG, a human resources and workforce technology company, 54 percent of employees say they have no idea how their company is using AI. IBM understands the need for skills that are parallel to technological innovation in order to be able to further the human-centric approach to the use of AI.

IBM, through collaboration with educational partners and institutions, has been shaping the future of the workforce with a holistic approach that promotes access to online classes, instructor-led courses, as well as live workshops and insights from experts. In collaboration with educational partners and institutions in February 2023, the first cohort of graduates successfully obtained certifications through programs like IBM SkillsBuild, covering topics such as AI and cybersecurity.

The program offers three different ways to learn; mentor-led learning through live webinars and consultation with professional educators, peer-learning to be able to collaborate on discussion forums with other people, or self-learning using online class materials at Skilvul in the form of learning videos, quizzes and coding exercises.

Moreover, to ensure that they are taking the courses seriously, IBM is also offering graded quizzes, final assessments, and requires them to practice simulations in order to earn the badges given out as incentives.

Information about the program can also be found on Kampus Merdeka, the online portal of the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry.

This article is published in collaboration with IBM