Kategorien
Event

My event tip for today: HR networking meetup by Stepstone & Personalwerk

Dear guest!

As promised in my post yesterday the next HR event tip follows today: The “Stepstone & Personalwerk: Netzwerktreffen 2024” in Düsseldorf. It is organized by the two companies with the subtitle “Von der Glühbirne zum Denklicht: KI als Game-Changer im Employer Branding”.

Since The Stepstone Group is a well known German HR tech company and one of the worldwide leading online job platforms, I don’t have to say much more about it. As I like numbers, just for the record: Stepstone is doing business in more than 30 countries with more than 20 brands (one major one is stepstone), and connects annually more than110 Million applications with over 140,000 employers. Their head office is located in Düsseldorf.

Last year I visited an exiting talk by two data scientists of Stepstone about salary prediction for all kind of jobs. Some of the insights can be read in my newsblog.

Let’s now turn to the next organizer: Personalwerk GmbH is a specialist agency for Employer Branding, E-Recruiting, and a personnel consulting with more than 30 years experience. They unite the core competence of three companies, and their headquarter is Karben near Frankfurt am Main.

About 200 people work for Personalwerk: 120 of them can be seen not only with a “normal” business picture on their website, but with a rather unusual expression – which matches what the company says about itself: committed service providers – but basically just people. In a motley crew. [At first I did not realize the changing photos by hoovering with the mouse and one employee was closing the eyes with her hands, and I was a little bit surprised and wondering].

Some numbers about the company: 12 locations; 230.000 ads annually; 6000 exiting clients.

And a last note: Personalwerk is according to their website also a lead investor in award winning HR tech company Aivy GmbH, which focuses on innovative online testing based on hardcore psychometric science as their website states – which sounds also interesting for me with my background in I-O Psychology and professional assessment.

Image: Personalwerk & Stepstone (embedded from eventbrite.de)

But enough about our hosts and me: You are probably keen to know more about the event. So here are some facts:

+ 15 May 2024, 17 – 21 h, Stepstone Head Office, 40219 Düsseldorf
+ Two speakers: Dorothee Reiser, Personalwerk, & Prof. Dr. Nicolai Krüger, Pitchnext
+ Focus & topics: Future of HRM, especially AI in employer branding and personnel marketing

Not working nearby? Then check out other destinations and dates in Germany for the HR meetups!

Find out more about the event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stepstone-personalwerk-netzwerktreffen-2024-tickets-881794740807

I will put some more links in the comments.

For now: I wish you a happy week and great meetups!

Stefan Klemens

PS: Want to exchange ideas on Human Resources, people analytics, digital assessment, or artificial intelligence in HRM? Then network, write a message and/or make an appointment for an online meeting. Or the classic way: phone call.

And: You like my work and the content I regularly share? Then I’m happy about a Like or comment on LinkedIn. Thank you! 🙂 🙋‍♂️🌳

Links:

(a) More destinations and dates: https://netzwerktreffen.onepage.me/

(b) Salary predition at Stepstone: https://www.schorberg.de/hr-data-science-salary-prediction-at-trivago-and-stepstone/

(c) Link to my yesterdays post “event of the day”: https://www.schorberg.de/my-event-tip-for-today-hr-barcamp-at-sipgate-in-duesseldorf/

Kategorien
Study

New study by the Adecco Group: Impact on talent strategy of AI and GenAI

Dear guest!

Known Swiss personnel service provider and talent company Adecco Group (with its German headquarter in Düsseldorf!) published its new study “Leading through the great disruption 2024” on April 4, 2024.

As the subtitle “How a human-centric approach to AI creates a talent advantage” indicates this study deals with the effects of machine and deep learning on the workforce. 2,000 C-Suite executives from nine countries (Canada, USA, France, Germany, Spain, UK, Australia, Japan, Singapore) were surveyed.

A key finding: “66% said they will buy AI-skilled talent externally, compared with just 34% who said they will develop their existing workforce.”

And: “37% of business leaders say pay for AI-related roles will “increase significantly” in the next 12 months, compared with just 24% for white collar and 9% for blue collar roles.”

Marcel Urech from Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten headlined his article about the study somewhat lurid “Viele Jobs, die KIs vernichten, kommen nie zurück” [Many jobs that AIs destroy never come back]. But this is the way articles attract readers as we all are aware of, even the HR folks for some years with employer branding as a marketing tool for talents, right?

Looking closer we see another result of the study: “A majority of 57% say the “human touch” is still more influential than AI in the workplace, while creativity and innovation is cited as the leading area where skills are lacking.

To sum up, five key messages are presented:

  • AI is already forcing change
  • A ‘Buy vs build’ talent strategy is not sustainable
  • Leaders are not ready
  • A responsible talent strategy underpins AI success
  • AI can help to create a human-centric business

Of course these results in my post are just a selection of the data provided, so turn for the complete results to the study report (with some interesting findings for Germany).

Well, the world of AI in HRM is as challenging as exiting – And as Denis Machuel, the CEO of the Adecco Group, says: “AI should be a tool that supports people’s unique creative potential and enables more time for strategic thinking and problem solving.”

I will put the links to the study (a PDF with 60 slides without the usual registration form!) and the cited article at the end of this article.

For now, I wish you a happy Thursday and productive end of the week!

Stefan Klemens

PS: Want to exchange ideas on Human Resources, people analytics, digital assessment, or artificial intelligence in HRM? Then network, write a message and/or make an appointment for an online meeting. Or the classic way: phone call.

And: You like my work and the content I regularly share? Then I’m happy about a Like or comment on LinkedIn. Thank you! 🙂 🙋‍♂️🌳

References and Links:

Website with study to download: https://www.adeccogroup.com/our-group/media/press-releases/leading-through-the-great-disruption-2024

Newspaper article about the study: https://www.20min.ch/story/studie-viele-jobs-die-kis-vernichten-kommen-nie-zurueck-103080019

Kategorien
Article

AI is not breaking EU law: Revealing the musician interviewed // Dave on Data

Dear visitor!

My latest newsblog article for Schorberg Analytics started with a reference to a song title by a famous metal band.

And I wrote a little bit about the new EU AI Act and how its affects AI in HRM in my text at the beginning, before I focused on the main purpose of it: Presenting you 7 books on AI for work and HRM.

Note: I updated this list a day later by adding 20 more books at the bottom on Artificial Intelligence(AI), ChatGPT, Business, and Large Language Models(LLMs), so there are no excuses for you for not reading and not knowing how to get into AI or, as you have probably touched the keyboard for it, for improving your skills and business!

But back to music: “Breaking the Law” is a song title by the successful British band Judas Priest founded 1969 in Birmingham, and the interviewee was their singer and songwriter: Robert Halford. The music group sold over 50 million albums and is considered to be on of the greatest metal bands.

German/Austrian/Swiss culture TV station 3sat spoke with their lead vocalist on the occasion of their new and 19th studio album “Invincible Shield”. You can watch the interview with Rob Halford, now 72 years old, in the media library of the broadcaster and the program “Kulturzeit”:

Image: Rob Halford, Source: 3sat (embedded)

https://www.3sat.de/kultur/kulturzeit/judas-priest-mit-neuem-album-invincible-shield-100.html

So, that was the solution. When I was younger (and my hair was of course longer) I used to listen to such music and from other rock genres of the 80s and 90s as well. As now I am just a little bit older, I still enjoy this music, but my main focus since 15 years is dancing and listening to Salsa music.

Interesting: There are others like business psychologist Dr. Nico Rose who write and speak about the connection of Psychology and Hard Rock/Heavy Metal music (see his website too), and as I know some (or many? who has a statistics? ;-)) tech people (and with other backgrounds as well like design and law) banged their heads too.

Here a closing tip fits which returns us to AI, data science, and Python (the programming language of course, not the lovely animal 😉):

David Langer, an applied computer scientist and experienced IT trainer (and according to his shirts in his latest videos with some interest for metal bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden), offers great online-tutorials, videos, and live training to learn Python, and Python with Excel, Machine Learning, and special Data Literacy courses. Check out his work on his website and free resources on his YouTube channel!

I learned about Dave on Data by the terrific newsletter by Data & Analytics, so you should, if this your field of work, check it out too.

That’s it!

Holidays are coming for many of us and I wish you some recreational and inspiring free days where ever you may roam! (the next song riddle, hoho!)

Stefan Klemens

Note: The image for this newsblog article was created with the help of DALL·E 3 as part of OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4. For those interested in the prompt and the chatbots accompanying words, here it is:

You: Create a HD pop art image in horizontal format of the relationship of heavy metal music on one side and data analytics as well as artificial intelligence on the other side. Surprise me!

ChatGPT: Here’s a pop art image that creatively captures the relationship between heavy metal music and the worlds of data analytics and artificial intelligence. It blends the vibrant and chaotic energy of a heavy metal concert with the precise, orderly realm of AI and data analytics in an imaginative and cohesive way. Enjoy exploring the details and the surprising ways in which these two seemingly disparate worlds are visually connected!

Hint: I created another picture with it, and a different prompt, and the results with skulls, stats, guitars, and charts were artistic, but maybe a little bit to scary for a header! ;-).

PS: Want to exchange ideas on Human Resources, people analytics, digital assessment, or artificial intelligence in HRM? Then network, write a message and/or make an appointment for an online meeting. Or the classic way: phone call.

And: You like my work and the content I regularly share? Then I’m happy about a Like or comment on LinkedIn. Thank you! 🙂 🙋‍♂️🌳

Kategorien
Books

7 Books on AI for Work and HRM + AI Act

Updated, 20/03/2024: Book list with 20 more books on AI at the end; some text extensions and corrections.

Dear visitor!

We live in fast times, information travels with light speed around the globe, and artificial intelligence is not breaking the law anymore with the AI Act that just passed the EU parliament on March 13, 2024.

To put it casually, alluding to a song by a well-known British hard rock band. Which I remembered recently while watching an TV interview on German/Austrian/Swiss culture channel 3sat with the front man of the group. (Can you guess who it was?)

Update 02/04/2024 (d:m:y): I published the solution for the little riddle today in this newsblog article and last week on this LinkedIn post.

The Artificial Intelligence Act

But I don’t want to write today about the Artificial Intelligence Act as a European Union regulation yet (nor about Heavy Metal music), but about what’s in the first part of this newsblog’s title: 7 Books on AI for Work and HRM (five published in 2024 and two in 2023; one in English).

However, anyone who works professionally with these mathematical-computer-based tools should take a close look on this new and unique law on AI and its key content: the five level of risk from artificial intelligence. You can find more on the AI Act in this article by Deutschlandfunk (in German, March 16) and on this special EU website.

For HR leaders and professionals it is crucial to know and act on that AI applications for employment like CV-scanning, worker management, vocational training, and the like are classified as “high risk” by the AI Act – as others areas like health or law where AI systems negatively affect safety or fundamental rights of people.

Important to know: The law is expected to come into force with certain delays depending on the risk level in May 2024 after its publication in EU’s own journal.

Note: There is standard for HR Tech in Germany already since 2021: Guidelines and further publications like the “Ethik Check KI” (February 2024) regarding the application of technology and artificial intelligence in HRM were developed by the “Ethikbeirat HR Tech” (Ethics Council HR Tech).

So much for that! Keep in mind this law and guidelines, but let’s us now turn to some more practice and input on how to use AI in your work and for a better HR – and how AI is challenging us and what we else we can do about it.

One more thing: As I am also a fan of science-fiction and thrillers, I added a new novel concerning this areas too. Although such books (and films) can be misleading and they exaggerate in terms of technical, psychological, logical, and other issues more or less (but this is of course one main reason to read fiction at all), some also inspire scientists and engineers, thus drive progress and help to design the future. Good examples are the books by Jules Verne, the novels by Isaac Asimov, or the technical devices designed for Star Trek.

Notes:

(a) As you will see, all but one books of my list are in German. You can find good books on AI and AI in human resources management in English language of course, and a search at O’Reilly or Amazon will help.

(b) And: The first three books presented below are, by accident (no commission for me!) published by renowned Rheinwerk Verlag (formerly: Galileo Press), specialized in IT, Marketing, Photo, and Video. Because of their Eastern sale you will receive until March 24, 2024, a print book and an ebook for one price in a bundle!

But let’s start with the serious books (I will write a separate newsblog article on AI in novels and films):

Eigene KI-Anwendungen programmieren

Image: Rheinwerk (embedded)

Metin Karatas (2024). Eigene KI-Anwendungen programmieren. Bonn: Rheinwerk. [February 2024]
https://www.rheinwerk-verlag.de/eigene-ki-anwendungen-programmieren/ [Note: English language edition in preparation an on sale in November 2024 according to this publisher’s website]

KI für Kreative

Image: Rheinwerk (embedded)

Jenny Habermehl (2024). KI für Kreativ: Künstliche Intelligenz für Grafik und Design nutzen. Bonn: Rheinwerk. [March 2024]
https://www.rheinwerk-verlag.de/ki-fuer-kreative-kuenstliche-intelligenz-fuer-grafik-und-design/

ChatGPT & Co.

Image: Rheinwerk (embedded)

Rainer Hattenhauer (2024). ChatGPT & Co.: Wie du KI richtig nutzt – schreiben, recherchieren, Bilder erstellen, programmieren. Bonn: Rheinwerk. [November 2023]
https://www.rheinwerk-verlag.de/chatgpt-und-co-wie-du-ki-richtig-nutzt/

Richtig texten mit KI

Imag: mvg (embedded)

Kai Spriestersbach (2023). Richtig texten mit KI – ChatGPT, GPT-4, GPT-3 & Co. München: mvg. [May 2023]
https://www.m-vg.de/mvg/shop/article/24370-richtig-texten-mit-ki-chatgpt-gpt-4-gpt-3-co/

Inside KI

Image: Herder (embedded)

Larissa Holzki, Stephan Scheuer (2024). Inside KI: Wie Künstliche Intelligenz und ihre Pioniere unser Leben und Arbeiten revolutionieren. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder. [March 2024]
https://www.herder.de/geschichte-politik/shop/p4/83599-inside-ki-klappenbroschur/

The Algorithm

Image: Hatchette Books (embedded)

Hilke Schellmann (2024). The algorithm: How AI decides who gets hired, monitored, promoted, and fired and why we need to fight back now. New York: Hachette Books. [January 2024]
https://www.hilkeschellmann.com
https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/hilke-schellmann/the-algorithm/9780306827341/

Die Burg

Image: Droemer (embedded)

Ursula Poznanski (2024). Die Burg. München: Knauer. [February 2024]
https://www.droemer-knaur.de/buch/ursula-poznanski-die-burg-9783426448373

See my note in the following block on this novel and further links regarding the discussion about the risks of AI.

Note: Novel “Die Burg”
This novel deals with an AI that becomes (super) intelligent, forms it own goals, and acts on these. The risks and chances of AI are widely discussed, one result being the AI Act by the EU mentioned at the beginning of my newsblog article. Whether AI will eventually become human-like or even reaches superpowers, is not clear and the positions of leading AI experts are split. Read more on risks and harms in the Wikipedia here and about existential risks from AI here.

The books by Ursula Poznanski and Hilke Schellmann show AI in a negative light or are critical towards the application of AI in HRM. I don’t share such negative views who overdraw what AI will be capable in the near future or which emphasize the risks much more rather than weight the chances equally.

But it is always good to see the other side and be aware of what some people and employees positions are – and address them appropriately for seeking acceptance by making clear that HR decisions are made by humans and that AI follows rules.

What is need here is far more AI competence and data literacy and their promotions are also part of the AI Act, as well as in projects like those that are announced these days by Microsoft Deutschland within the scope of their planned third server location (next to Bedburg and Bergheim) for AI and cloud computing in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen. See the next block for more.

Note: Microsofts Investment in Germany
Marianne Janik, CEO of Microsoft Germany, says to the press on her visit to an event in the region with politicians on March 18, 2024: “Niemand wird einer Technologie vertrauen, wenn die Beurteilungsfähigkeit dafür nicht da ist.” [No one will trust a technology if the ability to assess it is not there.] Read more in this newspaper article here and here for the companies huge education campaign for AI, and what the involved local politicians think about it.

That was it! I hope you have gotten some suggestions for books that will help you with your professional AI journey. There are of course many other books out there on AI with or without mathematics, on specific areas (like HRM), or on today’s dominating fields: machine learning and deep learning – or short: data science.

What is your favorite book on AI for work? Which one would you recommend to your colleagues? And how do you see our AI future? Please comment on my LinkedIn post regarding this newsblog article.

I wish you a good week, and: Happy reading and applying AI!

Stefan Klemens

Update (20/03/2024): I expanded my list on a number of books on AI, ChatGPT, Business, and Large Language Models (LLMs). See the results in the following block. And I did some text extensions and corrections as well.

Update: 20 more books on Artificial Intelligence (AI), ChatGPT, Business, and Large Language Models (LLMs)

1. Alexander Loth (2024). KI für Content Creation: Texte, Bilder, Audio und Video erstellen mit ChatGPT & Co. Frechen: mitp.
2. Wolfhart Fabarius (2023). ChatGPT in der Unternehmenspraxis: Anwendungsbeispiele für Risikomanagement, Controlling und Compliance. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.
3. Andreas Berens, Carsten Bolk (2023). Content Creation mit KI. Bonn: Rheinwerk.
4. Stephen Wolfram (2023). Das Geheimnis hinter ChatGPT: Wie die KI arbeitet und warum sie funktioniert. Frechen: mitp.
5. Ulrich Engelke, Barbara Engelke (2024). ChatGPT – Mit KI in ein neues Zeitalter: Wie KI-Tools unser Leben und die Gesellschaft verändern. Frechen: mitp.
6. Eric Sarrion (2023). ChatGPT for Beginners: Features, Foundations, and Applications. Berkeley, CA: Apress. [507 pages]
7. Codi Byte (2023). hat GPT Bible: 10 books in 1 : everything you need to know about AI and its applications to improve your life, boost productivity, earn money, advance your career, and develop new skills. Wroclaw: Amazon Fullfilment.
8. Eric Sarrion (2023). Exploring the Power of ChatGPT: Applications, Techniques, and Implications. Berkeley, CA: Apress. [204 pages]
9. Ken Huang, Yang Wang, Feng Zhu, Xi Chen, Chunxiao Xing (Eds.). (2023). Beyond AI: ChatGPT, Web3, and the Business Landscape of Tomorrow. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland.
10. Tom Taulli (2023). Generative AI: How ChatGPT and Other AI Tools Will Revolutionize Business. Berkeley, CA: Apress.

11. Olivier Caelen, Marie-Alice Blete (2024). Anwendungen mit GPT-4 und ChatGPT entwickeln. O’Reilly.
12. Paul Dupin (2023). Chatgpt: Profitables Geschäft in der Ära der KI Textgenerierung. Epubli.
13. Andreas Helfrich-Schkarbanenko (2023). Mathematik und ChatGPT: Ein Rendezvous am Fuße der technologischen Singularität. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Spektrum.
14. Charles Waghmare (2023). Unleashing The Power of ChatGPT: A Real World Business Applications. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
15. Akshay Kulkarni, Adarsha Shivananda, Anoosh Kulkarni, Dilip Gudivada (2023). Applied Generative AI for Beginners: Practical Knowledge on Diffusion Models, ChatGPT, and Other LLMs. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
16. Tom Taulli (2023). ChatGPT and Bard for Business Automation: Achieving AI-Driven Growth. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
17. Michael McTear, Marina Ashurkina (2024). Transforming Conversational AI: Exploring the Power of Large Language Models in Interactive Conversational Agents. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
18. Thimira Amaratunga (2023). Understanding Large Language Models: Learning Their Underlying Concepts and Technologies. Berkeley, CA: Apress.
19. Stefan Brunnhuber (2024). The Third Culture: The Impact of AI on Knowledge, Society and Consciousness in the 21st Century. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland
20. Stefan H. Vieweg (Ed.). (2023). KI für das Gute: Künstliche Intelligenz und Ethik. Cham: Springer International Publishing, Springer Gabler.

Tip: Still not enough? Need a special book? Looking for upcoming publications? Then please use your favorite book search engine! For my German-speaking readers: buchandel.de shows almost all deliverable books in German language.

Note: Be aware that ChatGPT by OpenAI is although the leading GenAI tool, there are others similar Chatbots (as you probably know) that you should check out and get familiar with by testing them, watching videos and online-tutorials, reading books and articles, and participating in training and workshops:

Note: Major competitors and alternatives for ChatGPT

(a) Gemini by Google (formerly: Bard; see more here) as the most important competitor;
(b) Anthropic (see more here), founded by former members of OpenAI and financed greatly by Amazon and Google;
(c) Chatbots based on the model LLaMA by Meta, now open source.

Get an overview here about Large language models (LLMs) which are the basis for today’s chatbots. Check out also:

(1) French company Mistral AI (more here) with investors like Andreessen Horowitz, BNP Paribas, and Salesforce.
(2) German Aleph Alpha (more here) with investors like Schwarz Gruppe, SAP, Bosch, and Hubert Burda Media.

I will write more on these companies and models in an upcoming newsblog article: So stay tuned and connect with me on LinkedIn!

PS: Want to exchange ideas on Human Resources, people analytics, digital assessment, or artificial intelligence in HRM? Then network, write a message and/or make an appointment for an online meeting. Or the classic way: phone call.

And: You like my work and the content I regularly share? Then I’m happy about a Like or comment on LinkedIn. Thank you! 🙂 🙋‍♂️🌳

Kategorien
Event Publication

Upcoming List of 90+ HR Tech Events 2024 – Example: Tech Recruiting Insights

+++ Post series: HR Tech 2024 Event Tips, No. 1 +++

Dear guest!

One task these days at Schorberg Analytics is to create a list of HR Tech, Analytics, and AI events in 2024.

By know we have identified 90+ summits, conferences, and exhibitions worldwide from January to December that focus solely or partially on technology in human resources management, People & HR Analytics, and – of course – on Artificial Intelligence in HRM.

One example that may be interesting for you if you are into HR Tech and located in Germany or Europe is the following event:

Tech Recruiting Insights at WeAreDevelopers World Congress
17-19 July 2024
Berlin, Germany

For more information about this event please visit: https://www.wearedevelopers.com/world-congress/techrecruitinginsights

Do you want to stay updated on our list 90+ Events 2024 on HR Tech, People Analytics & AI? Then like or comment on this post on LinkedIn, connect with me via LinkedIn or send me a message via contact form or email – And check out our newsblog!

Further news on how to get our list coming soon.

I wish you a productive rest of the week!

Stefan Klemens

PS: Want to exchange ideas about Human Resources, People Analytics, Digital Assessment, or Artificial Intelligence in HRM? Then network, send a message and/or schedule an online meeting. Or the classic way: a phone call.

And: Do you like my work and the content I regularly share? Then I’m happy about a Like or comment on LinkedIn. Thank you! 🙂 🙋‍♂️🌳

Kategorien
Technology

Why Europe Needs an “Artificial Intelligence Airbus company”

Dear guest!

Yesterday I was part of the opening of the Gen AI-Lab by Ecodynamics in Düsseldorf – An event hosted by CEO Hamidreza Hosseini that implemented several new insights into my brain, namely: my neural network. Which of course was, as the foundations of Deep Learning distribute to a growing number of people, the blueprint for GenAI. Artificial neural networks are the core of Generative AI and Large Language Models a central part of it; Hamidreza talked a little about it at the Startplatz in the Media Harbor of the state capital (Thanks also to Lorenz Gräf for his introduction).

We also learned about Large Language Models (LLMs), and got a deeper look at the powerful performance of ChatGPT-4 (available in the Plus plan for $20 per month by OpenAI). And it is no longer a chatbot anymore, although the most powerful today as the CEO of Ecodynamics pointed out, but expanding with its 1000+ plugins and including models into e.g. a multilingual personal assistant, a painter with DALL·E 3, and a data scientist (see “Speak” in the plugin store and “Advanced data analysis” in the ChatGPT-4 menu).

Once again this event, the experience of Hamidreza Hosseini and Stefania Kalinska (COO Ecodynamics), as well as of what some of the participants said about the restrictions and fears of using ChatGPT in their companies, made it clear, that Europe and Germany are lagging behind in this technology that is changing the present and shaping the near future. And of course not only in the development of own tools and Large Language Models for a corporate and scalable application of GenAI (although there are some promising approaches like Luminous by Aleph Alpha in Germany or Mistral AI from France [1] (see hugginface.co for more on AI and LLMs) – But also in the application of the leading GenAI ChatGPT.

One reason, we learned and imagined, is the fear of many managers to implement it mainly grounded in the strict German and European data protection regulations and laws. But this should not be the case, said Mr. Hosseini, because running ChatGPT on servers in Europe and people from Microsoft Azure, for example, make sure that the chatbot complies with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Just like today with corporate data in the clouds of the Windows inventor, Google, or Amazon’s AWS. So the enterprise dependency is already there – and so is the GDPR match.

But as I am a friend of Open Source, freedom, independence and competition, we should not have only one pair of shoes for the walk into the future! Or as Hamidreza said: A hybrid or different LLM solution for applying GenAI could be better in special company cases. Although from the Silicon Valley as well, Anthropic’s model Claude is a promising candidate to challenge OpenAI, since some of its leading people came from the ChatGPT company. And certainly Anthropic’s funding in the last months with more than 5.5 billion US dollars ($4 billion from Amazon) and its partnership with AWS help to cut a big piece from the GenAI cake in the near future. [2]

This brings me to the question, what Europe and Germany can do in getting on strongly and fast with GenAI – and not lose out on another disruptive technology. As the “chip war” has started already, another insight from my trip to Düsseldorf yesterday, it came to my mind, that Germany, France, and other countries in Europe are obviously not big enough to compete alone with the overwhelming US tech companies, and also with the Asian giants. And even if such an initiative from the Dieter Schwarz Foundation and Aleph Alpha in Germany in building the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence is of course a step in the right direction, this may be too small to compete with the tech giants. [3]

So the call of the hour might be to bring together forces from Europe like the Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence, Mistral AI from France, and other European AI actors and companies. And we have a very good role model for this, going back to 1970: In those days the foundations were laid for an aerospace company that very successfully challenged the dominant Boeing Company. We are talking about Airbus, of course, and the European company is number one or number two in this industry, depending on the criteria. [4, 5]

Therefore: why not join European forces to create a true champion from the continent that has influenced the world more than any other place throughout history? Our common heritage, our diversity, but also our ability to work together without borders and by valuing our not so different cultures (as seen from a global perspective) are a solid basis for such a goal. And money is there too. Hence it is time for an “Artificial Intelligence Airbus company”!

And I hope and am optimistic that this will happen. Why? Because there are a number of people who are working towards spreading the Gen AI spirit. Hamidreza and his team are one of them! What about you?

Many greeting and all the best,

Stefan Klemens

PS: Want to exchange ideas on people analytics, digital assessment or artificial intelligence in HRM? Then network, write a message and/or make an appointment for an online meeting. Or the classic way: phone call.

And: You like my work and the content I regularly share? Then I’m happy about a Like or comment on LinkedIn. Thank you! 🙂 🙋‍♂️🌳

Sources:

[1] https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/27/mistral-ai-makes-its-first-large-language-model-free-for-everyone
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic#Claude
[3] https://www.dieter-schwarz-stiftung.de/aktuelles/aleph-alpha-und-ipai-verkuenden-umfangreiche-partnerschaft.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus
[5] https://de.statista.com/themen/5179/airbus-vs-boeing/#topicOverview

Credits:

A first draft of this article was improved by Deepl’s function “Write”, an AI company from Cologne, Germany.
https://www.deepl.com/write

The heading picture was created with Stable Diffusion, the painting GenAI developed by researchers from the L. M. University of Munich.