PwC hosts “prompt parties” to help employees experiment with generative AI tools. The company’s chief learning officer said employees need a safe, low-risk format to experiment with AI tools. PwC announced last year that it would invest $1 billion over three years to expand AI. AI capabilities.
Generative AI is reshaping the workplace, but many employees still don’t know how to use it.
PwC, a Big Four professional services firm, is working with ‘facilitators’ to address that gap.
In 2023, PwC announced it would invest $1 billion over three years to expand its AI capabilities. Later that year, the company launched My AI, an upskilling initiative for employees to receive training on how to use AI responsibly.
However, Leah Houde, PwC’s chief learning officer, told Business Insider that even though employees wanted to learn more about how to use AI, after the initial AI training, it was difficult for employees to actually use the technology. He said there was still a skills gap when it came to using it. that.
PwC representatives told BI that in 2024, AI was among the top five searched terms on PwC’s internal learning and development platform, but by 2023 it will be in the top 15. However, it was not even in the top 100 in 2022.
“The cognitive load of trying something new in what you normally do is taxing,” Haude said, adding that many employees didn’t know where to start with the AI prompts. Ta. Instructions given to an AI tool to elicit a useful response.
People needed a safe, non-hazardous place to play with tools. That’s where AI Prompt Party comes in.
Group sessions can be run across teams or independently by a company’s AI leader and are intended to help employees become comfortable using AI tools such as Microsoft Copilot and ChatPwC, an in-house version of ChatGPT. Masu.
This session focuses on real-world use cases, so employees can collaboratively experiment with using AI to solve problems or accomplish team-specific tasks.
Houde says the sessions are “not when you’re working on a client deliverable, or writing an email to your boss, or doing anything that makes you nervous that you don’t want to fail at AI. “It’s like a playground,” he said.
He said experimenting in a group setting allows employees to learn from each other’s prompts and get new ideas about what AI can do. They’re also more likely to experiment with AI on their own time, Houde says.
Since launching in March, PwC said it has hosted nearly 500 promotional parties and received more than 880 additional requests, so it is scaling up to meet demand.
Houde said it’s especially important for employees at PwC, a professional services firm, to become familiar with AI. The company’s customers often rely on employees to answer their questions about AI.
Workforce experts have previously told BI’s Tim Paradis that it is necessary to familiarize employees with AI, which will require support and investment from employers.
A study published by Slack in November found that AI adoption among desk workers has plateaued, even as companies continue to invest heavily in AI for business purposes.
But Haude said it’s not just AI and other technical skills that PwC employees want more training for. Terms like “inclusion” and “inclusive thinking” are top searches on the company’s training platform every year.
“What this work teaches me is that human interaction is always important,” she says.
Going forward, Houde says he’s most excited about using AI to create personalized learning and development plans based on people’s current skills and where they want their careers to go.
Rather than generally recommending the same training for everyone, AI can flag the most relevant training for each individual.
“AI allows us to understand the skills our employees have and connect them with the skills they need to grow,” says Houde.
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