There is no question that artificial Intelligence (AI) is here to stay, with innovative uses seemingly popping up every day. Those in the workplace have mainly been interested in how it can simplify systems and ease employees’ workload. The California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (California JPIA) recognizes the critical role workplace efficiency plays in organizational success and recognizes the potential of AI as a powerful tool to enhance it. At the 2024 California JPIA Risk Management Educational Forum, the CEO and founder of Reinvention Lab, Dan Chuparkoff, discussed the power of AI and how it can be helpful to local government employees.
“AI is going to be more important for mankind than fire,” said Chuparkoff as he opened his presentation. “Like fire, AI will be a little hard to handle at first.”
AI offers limitless opportunities, but staff should understand the tool before diving in. Chuparkoff outlined his knowledge of AI in the twelve lessons below.
- AI is a driver for innovation: Every new technology discovered goes through a “hype cycle” where it reaches a peak of interest, drops due to disillusionment and plateaus once deemed productive or not. AI is currently peaking, making it an excellent time to dive in and discover its potential.
- People don’t say robot: Humankind tends to put a name to robots, like ATMs and coffeemakers. Despite the names attached to it, AI is still a robot. We must use its tools with caution as it may not be able to fully comprehend information.
- The types of AI: There are two types of AI: recognition algorithms and generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs).
- Recognition-based AI reviews inputted data and categorizes it. For example, a bag scanner at an airport Transportation Security Administration booth scans items and recognizes whether they are good or bad.
- GPTs base their results on the largest consensus. The word prediction feature in smartphone messages takes partially finished text and suggests what most people use as the next word.
- Sometimes, the “best” answer isn’t a very good one: AI receives its information from the Internet, which is littered with misinformation. When asking AI for assistance, ensure its output is accurate.
- Trillions of examples of content dramatically made AI more useful: In 2017, ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot, learned from 50 million examples of content across the internet. Today, the tool has learned 13 trillion examples of content, making it an extremely robust source of information.
- AI is the new way we process data: These generative tools, such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Llama, are increasingly being used. They can provide expanded information on a topic or help take detailed notes during a meeting.
- Recognition followed by recommendation: A common misconception is that generative AI is a search engine, but its purpose is to generate text. AI is best used to review information and make recommendations.
- AI is an assistant, not a replacement: While AI is helpful, its output should still be reviewed. AI is not meant to replace an employee but to aid them.
- Six real things that AI can help with today: AI’s algorithms can be used to write better stories, answer questions quickly, write stronger messages, make software faster, make customized images, or speak other languages.
- People are here to manage the chaos: Expertise development follows this system: process, communicate, investigate, solve, discover and imagine. The last three steps require human intervention and can result in chaos if handed to AI.
- AI will democratize access to information: Tools like those that can translate media into many languages can make information more accessible to the world. Consider how AI can be utilized to expand reach.
- Solve, discover and imagine: AI can make the expertise development system more efficient. By utilizing AI to assist with the processing, communicating and investigating phases, the solve, discover and imagine phases can be explored in greater depth.
Providing innovative risk management solutions for its public agency partners for more than 45 years, the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (California JPIA) is one of the largest municipal self-insurance pools in the state, with more than 125 member cities and other governmental agencies. Members actively participate in shaping the organization to provide important coverage for their operations. The California JPIA provides innovative risk management solutions through a comprehensive portfolio of programs and services, including liability, workers’ compensation, pollution, property and earthquake coverage, as well as extensive training and loss control services. For more information, please visit the California JPIA’s website at cjpia.org.