By Rimjhim Ray
Artificial Intelligence or AI is the buzzword today, especially in the corporate arena worldwide. Everybody has heard the term, so much so that whatever, astonishing or incomprehensible, is attributed to AI. But very few know what it is and how it would turn out to be a game-changer for future business endeavours.
For your easy understanding, AI is like an exoskeleton for the mind and heart of a human leader. Why do we say so? Just like an exoskeleton strengthens the physical body of a human, AI can boost our cognitive, emotional and social powers. Intellectually, it can enhance cognitive prowess, allowing you to process vast amounts of information swiftly and make good decisions.
To simplify it further, AI is a technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity and autonomy. Applications and devices equipped with AI can understand and respond to human language. Emotionally, AI can help deepen your understanding of an employee and advise you on the best path forward. Socially, AI can help you understand team dynamics and foster diverse thinking and psychologically safe environments.
So, you see that it is quite a multi-tasker with intelligence which your businesses want you to be. But as humans, all of us have certain limitations, even as business leaders. As a business leader, sometimes you are in a fix to firm your decision in which direction for optimum output. You are subject to a lot of thinking, discussions, data crunching, research and evaluation.
Here AI comes in handy as it can process vast amounts of data quickly, providing leaders with actionable insights that support informed decision-making. By analyzing trends and patterns, AI tools can predict market shifts, customer behaviours, and operational inefficiencies, allowing leaders to make better data-driven decisions.
Doesn’t it make your task simpler and leave you time to focus on future endeavours?
Besides, enhanced decision-making, it enables increased productivity, improved customer experience, efficient communication & collaboration and enhanced employee engagement.
This shows that AI can give you a competitive edge in navigating challenges and opportunities, from personalized learning to advanced analytics.
No wonder, Indian Companies believe in the prowess of AI and consider it essential for business success in 2025. A report reveals that 79% of organisations are planning to increase AI budgets and an anticipated 41% average rise in spending from 2024 – the largest globally. India is at the forefront by setting new benchmarks in AI integration and innovation, driven by confidence in its ROI.
AI can automatically summarize meeting discussions, identify action points, and distribute follow-ups, ensuring clarity and alignment across your team. Not only this, AI offers several other significant advantages for leaders and managers aiming to improve performance throughout their organizations.
AI offers immense potential to enhance your leadership abilities by streamlining processes, providing actionable insights, and supporting skill development.
However, it cannot yet be at par with the uniquely human qualities that define great business leaders who possess qualities of ethics, concerns, skill set, communication and empathy for their employees. This enables them to build trust with the entire business spectrum.
AI comes with some other set of challenges like job displacement, data privacy concerns bias in AI algorithms and dependence on technology over human capabilities.
Another advantage is that AI doesn’t come with huge infra costs unless you are building your own language models. However, if you are building your large language models then you may have to incur huge infra costs. With existing LLM models like Gemini, OpenAI, and Llama (all dropping costs), companies just need to work with the right AI partner and domain-specific small language models to reduce the total cost of ownership.
Considering the pros & cons of AI, it may not be a misnomer to say that infusing your Natural Intelligence (NI) with Artificial Intelligence (AI) would make great business sense.
Indeed, AI is the need of the hour to empower futuristic businesses, nationally and globally.
(The author is Rimjhim Ray, Co-founder, Heyo and Partner Goa Angels, and the views expressed in this article are his own
