AI text generator ChatGPT, released to the public late last year, is so sophisticated that it has already demonstrated its ability to write coherent essays, generate sound legal documents and otherwise interact with humans in a convincingly conversational manner. One CEO even treats the tool from parent company OpenAI like a perennially available member of his executive team. "I ask ChatGPT to become aware of where my biases and blindspots might be, and the answers it gives are a really, really good starting point to check your thinking," Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of online course provider Coursera, told CBS MoneyWatch. He said the tool helps him to be more thoughtful in his approach to business challenges, as well as look at topics from vantage points that differ from his own. For example, last week at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Maggioncalda entered the following prompt: "What should I consider when giving a speech to prime ministers at Davos?" Another useful entry for business leaders would be: "What should I consider when I am restructuring my company?"

Enterprises and service providers are facing a talent crunch that requires them to double down on employee engagement programs to attract and retain people with critical skill sets, says an expert with Information Services Group, a leading global technology research and advisory firm. "When employees are engaged in the corporate culture, have visibility to the executive team and are confident the company values their input, they are significantly less likely to leave. In talent landscape, this is a competitive advantage." Speaking at the All Day DevOps virtual event today, Ola Chowning, partner, ISG Digital Strategy and Solutions, said companies need to engage employees and ensure they are noticed, recognized, heard and valued to improve retention. Chowning made her comments during a 30-minute online presentation, "Skill Shift 2022 – From Deep to Wide, Hard To Soft," her fifth consecutive appearance at the annual event, the largest of its kind in the industry.

It's the holistic approach to developing better processes, improving employee engagement, and optimizing your business for long-term growth by adopting the proper technology. Complex endeavor, you should expect some resistance along the way and be prepared to overcome challenges. Let's start with the basics. A digital transformation uses technology to help improve business operations and customer relationships. It can be as simple as ensuring your website works properly on all devices or as complex as using artificial intelligence to automate specific tasks.

Talkdesk, a provider of cloud-based contact center software, announced $230 million in new Series D funding that more than triples the company's valuation to $10 billion, Talkdesk founder CEO Tiago Paiva confirmed to TechCrunch. New investors Whale Rock Capital Management, TI Platform Management and Alpha Square Group came on board for this round and were joined by existing investors Amity Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Top Tier Capital Partners, Viking Global Investors and Willoughby Capital. Talkdesk uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve customer service for midmarket and enterprise businesses. It counts over 1,800 companies as customers, including IBM, Acxiom, Trivago and Fujitsu. "The global pandemic was a big part of how customers interact and how we interacted with our customers, all working from home," Paiva said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning offer new ways to boost productivity, develop talent, and drive organizational change by enhancing managers' ability to make the right calls in complex situations. Augmented intelligence tools have already made an impact for many companies, but the next revolution will happen when every aspect of a business, from top to bottom, is designed with AI in mind. Call this new construct the intelligent enterprise. Like other major revolutions in management, it's poised to transform industries and organizations for decades to come. To prepare for this next phase, leaders will need to harness machine intelligence for decision-making across the business, assemble the right talent, and recognize the benefits and limitations of AI to shape organizational strategy.

Last year, speaking to The Guardian, Tess Posner, CEO of AI4ALL, an organization that strives to increase diversity within artificial intelligence, concluded that we have reached a "tipping point" in terms of the diversity crisis underlying AI. With every passing day, it gets more challenging to mitigate the biases that are powering AI tools and systems. Now more than ever, awareness and consideration of these biases need to be brought to the forefront of all AI development and implementation. In order to tackle AI biases, it's important to consider the multitude of different types of biases that exist and drive to combat each of them. Racial and ethnic biases pervade AI tools.

"The title'Chief Data Officer' started out as a joke!", says Usama Fayyad -the world's first CDO- and continues; "Now it became a serious thing, I guess." IADSS Co-founder Dr. Usama Fayyad was interviewed by Kate Strachnyi after his keynote speech at the ODSC 2019 East event. An important part of this funny interview was about the evolution of the role "Chief Data Officer" and the future of it in driving data literacy and culture in companies. Kate Strachnyi: You were the first Chief Data Officer at Yahoo, and more recently, you were the Global Chief Data Officer at Barclays. Can you tell us about how these CDO role has come about and how it has evolved?

Any organizations that are scaling up in size, locations, operations or products face exponential complexities. In this process of scaling up, data also grows in volume and variety, demanding innovation to more effectively derive value from quickly growing data. Data analytics is becoming table stakes as solutions have become more open and commoditized. Many organizations in the Asia Pacific region have adopted or experimented with emerging data solutions. Yet, according to a Data & Analytics Report by MIT and SAS in 2016, only 51% of respondents in 2015 believed analytics creates competitive advantages, down from 66% in 2012.

Apple on Thursday said John Giannandrea, the company's recently appointed senior vice president of artificial intelligence and machine learning strategy, is now part of the company's executive team. He reports to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple's move comes as the company looks to raise its profile in AI, alongside Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. "John hit the ground running at Apple and we are thrilled to have him as part of our executive team," Cook said in a statement. "Machine learning and AI are important to Apple's future as they are fundamentally changing the way people interact with technology, and already helping our customers live better lives. We're fortunate to have John, a leader in the AI industry, driving our efforts in this critical area."

Apple has just confirmed that John Giannandrea, the ex-Googler machine learning veteran who joined the company back in April, has joined the likes of Tim Cook, Jony Ive, Eddy Cue and Angela Ahrendts on the executive team. His role on the executive team will be "Senior Vice President of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Strategy," signaling just how key AI and machine learning will be to Apple moving forward. Giannandrea has been leading Apple's Siri and Core ML team for months, bringing the two previously distinct teams together under one leader. Prior to Apple, Giannandrea spent eight years leading the AI push at Google; as of 2016, he was leading the search team, as well. We spoke to Giannandrea at TechCrunch Disrupt shortly before he parted ways with Google.