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.