Co-Founder of AI in Nigeria and a digital transformation strategist, Ehia Erhaboh, says organisations should rethink their business models rather than using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate processes.

Mr Erhaboh said this on Thursday in a webinar organised by the Private Sector ESG Forum, with the theme: “Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Sustainability and the Future.”

He said AI belonged to a category described as general-purpose technologies, which had the power to define entire industrial revolutions rather than just improve existing processes.

He said organisations that were doing well with AI were thinking about it from a very strategic level, with leadership taking full ownership of the process.

Mr Erhaboh warned that companies focused only on automating tasks without thinking strategically were missing the bigger opportunity that AI presented.

“The major benefit that general-purpose technologies such as AI present to organisations is the opportunity to transform your business model, to transform what exactly you do and how you deliver value.

“Those who are doing it well are thinking about how it impacts their people, the value they offer to customers, and who they are as organisations

“If your focus is just thinking about how to automate, then you may have missed a significant part of what this technology brings,” he said.

According to him, organisations needed to look at their data and computing capabilities and use frameworks to assess whether they were truly ready to implement AI sustainably.

He said some organisations were rushing to implement AI use cases to satisfy their boards, without taking a complete view of the opportunities available.

Mr Erhaboh said AI presented a massive commercial opportunity for financial services organisations, particularly in the area of credit access.

He added that many Africans lacked access to credit facilities not because they were untrustworthy but because financial institutions did not have enough data on them.

Mr Erhaboh urged professionals not to wait for their organisations to train them, saying individuals should take responsibility for their own development.

He warned that those waiting for their organisations to upskill them could find themselves unable to compete with external candidates who had already acquired new skills independently.

Also speaking, a chartered management consultant, Dipo Awojide, said professionals should not see AI as an enemy but as a tool to reshape how they solved problems and made contributions to organisations.

Mr Awojide said adaptability was the most important skill for individuals in the AI era, urging professionals across all sectors to continuously assess what skills they needed for the future.

He said universities and training institutions should also reinvent how they taught and infuse AI literacy into their curricula to ensure graduates were employable and fit for the future.

He added, “Skills like critical thinking, creativity, adaptability, emotional intelligence, collaboration and AI fluency will become more prominent and more important in the next five to ten years. Of all the skills I have listed, adaptability to me appears to be the most important skill.”

Mr Awojide urged employers to invest in training and retraining employees rather than simply letting people go as AI advanced.

He said companies that carried their workers along the AI transformation journey would retain trust, keep their best talent and remain more competitive.

Also speaking, a climate change and sustainability advocate, Olumide Idowu, said scaling AI climate solutions required more than technology alone.

Mr Idowu said government intervention, innovators, communities and funders all needed to work together to ensure no one was left behind in the transition.

He advocated urgent action, urging stakeholders to move from conversations to concrete commitments and partner with organisations already delivering climate solutions on the ground.

(NAN)