The world’s present reckoning with a certain transformative technology ought to contain echoes of the past for CIOs and CTOs who were working their way up 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

Recall the nagging pull of the Internet in the mid-’90s. The overnight inescapability of social media in the mid-aughts. The explosive expansion of mobile computing—make that mobile everything—following Apple’s introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and the App Store in 2008.

Against this backdrop, is generative AI really all that exceptional a source of tech-driven disruption?

Yes and no. Some elements of such advancements are universal across all breakthroughs. Others are singular to each particular technology.

Or, as put by a team of partners and consultants at McKinsey Digital:

For the CIO and CTO, the generative AI boom presents a unique opportunity to turn the promise of generative AI into sustainable value for the business.

Having spoken with dozens of tech leaders and analyzed generative AI initiatives at more then 50 companies, the McKinsey thinkers present nine steps every tech executive can take to create value, orchestrate technology and data, scale solutions and manage risk for generative AI. Here are the first three with an excerpt from their expounding on each.  

1. Determine the company’s posture for the adoption of generative AI:

“CIOs and CTOs should work with risk leaders to balance the real need for risk mitigation with the importance of building generative AI skills in the business. This requires building consensus around the levels of risk with which the business is comfortable and how generative AI fits into the business’s overall strategy.”

2. Identify use cases that build value through improved productivity, growth and new business models:  

“CIOs and CTOs can be most helpful by working with the CEO, CFO and other business leaders to think through how generative AI challenges existing business models, opens doors to new ones and creates new sources of value. In some cases, generative AI is not the best option.”

3. Reimagine the technology function: 

“Generative AI has the potential to completely remake how the tech function works. CIOs and CTOs need to make a comprehensive review of the potential impact of generative AI on all areas of tech, but it’s important to take action quickly to build experience and expertise.”

The article’s first author is Aamer Baig, a senior partner in McKinsey & Company’s Chicago office. Read the whole thing.

Buzzworthy developments of the past few days.

• Silicon Valley developers are pursuing autonomous AI like so many Captain Ahabs chasing that one elusive whale. Why wouldn’t they? The spoils will surely combine bragging rights with big dollars. Reuters reports that some early efforts funded so far “are only a taste of the sophistication that could come in future years from increasingly advanced and autonomous agents as the industry pushes towards an artificial general intelligence (AGI) that can equal or surpass humans in myriad cognitive tasks.” Get the rest.
   
• AI is dismaying the living daylights out of Generation Z. Especially addled by anxiety are the Zoomers who are willing to start low on the corporate ladder and work their way up. And they’re not foolish to fret. It’s entry-level work that seems the lowest hanging fruit for algorithms to pluck. At Insider, the head of a PR agency focused on business and tech sounds a scolding note. “Humans can be enhanced by AI, helped by AI, but replacing them with AI is a shortsighted decision made by myopic bean counters who can't see the value in a person,” he writes. “It’s worth considering whether investments in AI should instead be replaced with actual training and mentorship programs with financial rewards.” Read the whole thing.
   
• AI can help warn clinicians off of supposedly unharmful medicines that could cause disabilities in preborn babies. The technology was developed at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. Mount Sinai news item here.
   
• When seeking health advice, consumers perceive little difference between ChatGPT and human healthcare workers. So found researchers at New York University. In their study, participants correctly identified chatbot responses 65.5% of the time and provider responses 65.1% of the time. Peer-reviewed study here, NYU news item here.
   
• With an assist from AI, simple bone density scans of the type used to diagnose osteoporosis can detect abdominal aortic calcifications. These, in turn, can predict not only heart attack and stroke but also risks for falls, fractures and dementia. An international research group made the finding. Australia’s Edith Cowan University has the story.
   
• Two weeks ago K Health stood out as the only health app to make a watchdog’s list of ‘most invasive’ AI apps across all industries. This week the NYC-based company is getting the star treatment at Forbes. Headline: “This AI Chatbot Has Helped Doctors Treat 3 Million People–And May Be Coming To A Hospital Near You.” Read the piece.
   
• Eye-catching investments in healthcare AI:
   
  • Augmedics raises $82.5 million to accelerate adoption of augmented reality spine surgery
  • Causaly raises $60 Million in Series B funding to catalyze AI-powered preclinical discovery
  • Feinstein Institutes gifted $10 million by Scott and Debby Rechler to combat disparities with AI healthcare
  • Gradia Health secures $4.2 million in seed funding to improve ongoing care for patients with chronic conditions
     
• From AIin.Healthcare’s news partners:
   
  • Health Imaging—ImpressionGPT, a ChatGPT-based framework, can accurately summarize radiology reports
  • Cardiovascular Business—No echocardiography, no problem? AI evaluates cardiac function using chest X-rays
  • Health Imaging—Natural language processing can limit report discrepancies between AI and radiologists
     

• Someone you know would benefit by reviewing the basics of AI and machine learning. That someone might even be you. We won’t tell. In any case, InfoWorld has posted a primo primer. (Hurry up and click, would you? We can’t look away forever.)