MOLLY WOOD: Right this moment I’m speaking to James Thomas, international head of know-how at Dentsu Artistic, about his group’s early expertise with generative AI at work. Dentsu is among the world’s largest international inventive businesses and was additionally one of many first to check out Copilot for Microsoft 365 as a part of Microsoft’s Early Entry Program. James has a report from the entrance strains. He shares how incorporating generative AI into on a regular basis operations has remodeled his crew’s workflows. And he talks about what enterprise leaders ought to be mindful as they start getting their palms on this know-how too. James, thanks a lot for becoming a member of us.
JAMES THOMAS: Thanks for having me. It’s nice to be right here.
MOLLY WOOD: Okay, so Dentsu was one of many first firms to check out Microsoft’s Copilot as a part of its Early Entry Program. Inform us about it. What has the expertise been like for the groups that took it out for a take a look at drive?
JAMES THOMAS: Yeah, so, an enormous quantity of individuals needed to get their palms on it. Sadly, we didn’t have that many licenses. However the fortunate 300 or in order that received entry can be a actual recreation changer. Lots of people can’t see themselves going again to how they used to work earlier than. Individuals see the efficiencies. They see the standard of their output being improved and the standard of their collaboration, significantly in inventive roles. You understand, plenty of time is spent planning—advanced manufacturing conferences and inventive periods the place plenty of notes and plenty of motion and subsequent steps are wanted to be created, plenty of advanced budgetary Excel paperwork to handle, even simply summarizing an extended electronic mail chain. You understand, these financial savings and efficiencies are big. It means individuals can get straight onto the duties that they’re imagined to do.
MOLLY WOOD: How has AI impacted the inventive course of at Dentsu?
JAMES THOMAS: So within the precise inventive course of itself, you recognize, ideation, we might usually work with a shopper in what we name a chemistry session, which is, you recognize, we get everybody in a room, we’ll actually simply sort of collaborate, give you some nice concepts over a couple of hours. Sometimes then what occurs is we might go away as an company and we might come again, you recognize, days, weeks, typically even months later with some inventive remedy, visualizations of those concepts, proper? And, uh, it’s taken months to even get to that stage. Through the use of Copilot in Groups and DALL-E, we will ideate whereas we’re within the room with a shopper. We are able to sketch down concepts into Phrase and have ChatGPT increase that out into thought out concepts. We are able to create visualizations in DALL-E. The laborious bit with inventive is attempting to convey different individuals on board with the concept you could have in your head. And, uh, the extra inventive the concept, the more durable it’s to attempt to get it to individuals. So the concept of with the ability to actually visualize issues in a short time or simply take a couple of strains of copy and all of the sudden flip that into some sort of proposal is big. And once more, it simply means we will get going quick with the shopper. We all know the place the useless ends are and we all know, proper, that is the correct thought. And it simply helped us to iterate lots sooner. I believe plenty of these use circumstances are ones we hadn’t considered earlier than. You understand, creatives, I believe it’s honest to say, had been fairly apprehensive about this know-how when it was turning into extra widespread, you recognize, like, like plenty of us—what does it imply for the longer term, their work, their jobs, humanity—however, you recognize, now I believe inventive individuals have seen that it’s really only a software of their toolkit and it means they will get to their concepts lots sooner. In actual fact, because the Copilot deployment at Dentsu has proven, yeah, we’ve received a ready listing of hundreds. We are able to’t get these instruments in individuals’s palms quick sufficient.
MOLLY WOOD: What was that preparation like? As a result of I do assume the inventive realm is kind of an area the place the straightforward reply is, we are going to get all this effectivity and that can enable us extra time to be inventive. However discuss somewhat bit extra concerning the evolution, like as you began to find, oh, this works within the strategy of being inventive as effectively.
JAMES THOMAS: I believe everyone seems to be utilizing it in numerous methods. What we’ve performed rather well, because of Dominic Shine, our CIO, and Brian Klochkoff, who’s enabling all these companies at Dentsu in a scaled manner, we’ve actually nice workplace hour conferences, city halls, the place the entire customers are coming collectively, sharing their very own suggestions and methods they’ve discovered. Um, so we’ve actually put plenty of work into serving to individuals know the best way to use it.
MOLLY WOOD: What do you think about as you go ahead and ultimately everyone has this, and these efficiencies begin to pile on prime of one another? What do you think about that can enable?
JAMES THOMAS: Properly, that’s an incredible query. I believe significantly, and I can solely actually converse for inventive, however what we’ve been battling in opposition to for fairly a couple of years is that want from CMOs for nearly limitless content material—simply continuous content material, new variations, new iterations for brand spanking new channels and every thing else. Due to that, and since plenty of the workflows had been handbook, you would automate some issues, however what it meant was creatives had been actually up in opposition to it, overloaded, proper? And so they had been simply churning out numerous completely different iterations and never having the time to spend on the upfront inventive thought. The concept of with the ability to use AI and know-how to generate content material, generate copy, generate photos, it frees up the time that creatives must be inventive. Creativity is just not a quick course of, normally. You want time, you want house to assume by way of these concepts. But when you recognize, oh, I’ve received to create a thousand variations of this concept, I don’t have too lengthy to consider the concept in itself. I’ve to get on and make all these variations. But when I do know I can give you a very nice thought, marketing campaign, set of property that I can take lots longer to do, after which use generative AI and different know-how to assist scale that, infinitely nearly, then that’s an incredible place to be. And that’s what everybody desires. Everybody desires the very best thought.
MOLLY WOOD: Discuss somewhat bit extra concerning the help within the inventive course of. You understand, I’ve spoken to people who find themselves utilizing ChatGPT, for instance, to brainstorm concepts or, you recognize, please problem me on this, or to sort of bat round ideas. I ponder how a lot of that’s taking place with you, that precise interplay within the inventive course of and iterating and perhaps utilizing these instruments to proceed to generate or enhance in your concepts.
JAMES THOMAS: Nobody likes to start out with a clean web page. You understand, it turns into very fast and straightforward to only throw down a couple of concepts, get them scaled out into, you recognize, from one line right into a paragraph, from a paragraph right into a proposal. However then it additionally lets you—as a result of you may get extra concepts out, it means you possibly can hopefully get to a greater thought faster. Once more, all this stuff enable for extra creativity, and it helps if you’re promoting the concept to individuals since you may be like, look, that is the message, however look, right here’s how we inform it to your 10 completely different audiences.
MOLLY WOOD: You’ve been utilizing this for some time and it, you recognize, kind of sounds prefer it’s sunk in for you, however was there a second when it blew your thoughts?
JAMES THOMAS: Yeah, I imply, a few issues that preserve wowing me each time is, you recognize, I spend my life in conferences, on Groups largely, and the be aware taking, the transcribing, and the motion steps—and likewise, should you be part of a gathering late then simply sort of recapping what’s occurred to this point. The accuracy is unbelievable and I’m again to again in conferences, so sadly, very often I’m somewhat bit late for the subsequent one. I can hit recap assembly and I’ll be in control immediately. It’s far more correct than the assembly notes I take or anybody else I do know takes. So that’s all the time an enormous one for me. And likewise, I journey lots and I get plenty of emails. So catching up on emails is all the time a reasonably daunting process whereas on the transfer or getting back from vacation. And now simply with the ability to summarize lengthy electronic mail chains in Outlook with Copilot is nice. I don’t want to sit down by way of these 30 emails on this one topic. I can get a two-paragraph abstract on what’s occurred and who’s doing what.
MOLLY WOOD: So let’s speak about recommendation to enterprise leaders when it comes to adopting this and integrating it into a corporation, particularly within the inventive trade, as a result of such as you mentioned, there’s— [interruption] What occurred?
JAMES THOMAS: In order that’s my automated cat timer. And it’s my voice telling my cat it’s time for dinner. Fairly embarrassing.
MOLLY WOOD: That’s unbelievable. You actually have all of it. You may have all of the toys.
JAMES THOMAS: Yeah, I didn’t know that may get picked up.
MOLLY WOOD: There’s a timer that tells your cat that it’s time for dinner in your personal voice? Oh my god.
JAMES THOMAS: Yeah.
MOLLY WOOD: Okay, so that you’ve given us some actually tactical examples to this point on how Dentsu leaders are incorporating Copilot into their workflows. What can be your recommendation for different enterprise leaders who haven’t gotten their palms on it but? What ought to they be maintaining in thoughts as they get began?
JAMES THOMAS: We’re an enormous holding group. So, you recognize, there’s equal worth in inventive as there’s within the finance crew, as there’s within the HR crew. Everybody’s utilizing it differently, and I believe serving to to convey individuals collectively. Assist them to share their findings and their perception on how they’ve been utilizing it, and likewise promote it to them within the use circumstances they perceive. When you’re speaking to a inventive a part of your enterprise, discuss to them concerning the inventive use circumstances. You understand, they won’t be so fascinated about what you are able to do in an Excel doc, however they’ll be very fascinated about among the different use circumstances which can be rather more particular to their world. So I believe perhaps tailoring it on your viewers will assist drive the adoption.
MOLLY WOOD: As you could have described it to this point, it kind of feels like these are instruments that can permit you to sustain with and succeed within the media world that we stay in now, proper? The place there are, such as you mentioned, completely different fashions and completely different distribution shops and other ways to get consideration. As soon as you’re feeling caught up, are you able to think about how this may additionally provide help to create new enterprise fashions and companies?
JAMES THOMAS: Yeah, completely. And I believe the know-how with Microsoft and OpenAI, and what we will do with ChatGPT and DALL-E and the way through APIs we will begin to plug this stuff collectively and construct out instruments. One factor we launched this 12 months, actually to sort of meet this problem, is what we’re calling the Technical Supply Heart of Excellence. It’s a mixture of expertise from our India, Brazil, and Poland groups, innovation and generative AI consultants and specialists. And we’re actually scaling these groups in an effort to meet the demand of what’s coming. And what’s coming is plenty of customized experiences, plenty of customized platforms and instruments. You understand, we’re already doing award-winning work. We had two awards at Cannes this 12 months, the highest two awards, the Grand Prix awards—one for Scrolling Remedy and one for The Inflation Cookbook, each AI-powered instruments. There are such a lot of completely different merchandise. Additionally, constructing customized fashions and customized algorithms, you recognize, that’s the place plenty of the IP and plenty of the differentiators will come. This know-how goes to be out there to everybody—manufacturers, businesses. Everybody’s going to have the ability to come up with it, nevertheless it’s the way you piece it collectively, how good you’re at constructing a customized mannequin. They are saying you may give anybody a guitar, however not everybody can play it the identical, or play it effectively, proper? Simply because you could have instruments or have entry to these items doesn’t imply you’re going to be efficient with it. So yeah, I believe there are such a lot of alternatives if these applied sciences and experiences can allow extra consideration and extra engagement and finally extra gross sales, more often than not, then that’s a very good factor for everybody.
MOLLY WOOD: You’re to this point forward of everyone else, proper, in adopting these instruments and having this early entry. And so, I ponder, what do you say to AI skeptics, or people who find themselves reluctant to combine generative AI into their lives?
JAMES THOMAS: The largest false impression is that it’s simply going to take everyone’s jobs. I imply, clearly AI has been round for a very long time, however generative AI specifically, clearly hit the massive time as a result of I suppose it’s a bit extra attractive. It’s a bit extra enjoyable. You may log on and switch your self into Drake and make a music. You understand, there are such a lot of enjoyable issues that anybody can do. For individuals to have the ability to go on and simply create content material, it’s nice. And as a inventive, I’m all the time in this type of slight battle with myself: I’m a inventive first, then a technologist. Something that may make individuals inventive is an effective factor, proper? You understand, if I can log on, and I won’t be one of the best video editor or photograph retoucher ever, but when I can create one thing and log on and AI can help me in bringing it to a a lot larger stage, then that’s nice. I believe everybody ought to be capable of be inventive and create the issues they’ve of their thoughts with out know-how or talent, to a level, turning into a blocker. I make the most of that on a regular basis. As I talked about earlier than, it’s simply discovering methods for individuals to be extra inventive and increase their workflows and make higher content material, or sooner content material. However you’re all the time going to want people. You’re all the time going to want the human really feel and human contact over this work. And it opens up new alternatives for careers and talent units and abilities as we see individuals stepping into immediate engineering.
MOLLY WOOD: What’s, aside from feeding your cat, the newest factor that AI has helped you with at work and never at work?
JAMES THOMAS: At work, it’s helped me to ship unbelievable work to shoppers, work that we’d by no means been capable of do with out this know-how. Personally, it’s enabled me, as I used to be speaking earlier, to create my very own content material higher. I even have a music profession I’ve had for a very long time, and that makes me need to launch different content material on a private be aware. And yeah, the instruments to get that content material higher, edit it faster, sooner, enhance it’s nice.
MOLLY WOOD: What sort of music do you make?
JAMES THOMAS: All types, I work with plenty of massive hip-hop artists within the US to movie scores to manufacturers. I’ve performed lots. We used to do it full time for a very long time as effectively.
MOLLY WOOD: What do you do with any further time that AI creates for you?
JAMES THOMAS: Be taught concerning the subsequent factor that’s coming with AI, normally. [Laughs] You understand, everybody’s enthusiastic about generative AI and the place we’re proper now. My job, and my crew’s job, is all the time to be one step forward.
MOLLY WOOD: Quick forwarding three to 5 years, what do you assume would be the most profound change in the best way we work?
JAMES THOMAS: Uh, wow, that’s a giant query. It’s really actually laborious to consider the place issues are going to go. You understand, a 12 months in the past, we weren’t even fascinated about generative AI, actually, you recognize, on probably the most half, and look the place we at the moment are. So, it’s laborious to say, however I believe nearly everyone in nearly something they do career-wise, you recognize, professionally, and as a client, will probably be leveraging AI of their day-to-day work, whether or not it’s Copilot, whether or not it’s specialist instruments. I believe everyone seems to be about to get much more environment friendly, hopefully lots happier, taking among the legwork out of among the mundane duties, however I can’t see a world now the place individuals aren’t going to be leveraging AI to boost the best way they work and the best way they stay.
MOLLY WOOD: James Thomas is international head of know-how at Dentsu Artistic. Thanks a lot for the time.
JAMES THOMAS: Thanks a lot for the chance.
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MOLLY WOOD: Thanks once more to James Thomas. And that’s it for this episode of WorkLab. Please subscribe and examine again for the subsequent episode, the place I’ll be speaking to Microsoft Chief Scientific Officer Eric Horvitz about how leaders can leverage the super potential of AI to greatest serve humanity. When you’ve received a query or a remark, drop us an electronic mail at worklab@microsoft.com, and take a look at Microsoft’s Work Pattern Indexes and the WorkLab digital publication. There you’ll discover all of our episodes together with considerate tales that discover how enterprise leaders are thriving in at the moment’s new world of labor. You’ll find all of that at microsoft.com/worklab. As for this podcast, please charge us, assessment, and comply with us wherever you pay attention. It helps us out a ton. The WorkLab podcast is a spot for consultants to share their insights and opinions. As college students of the way forward for work, Microsoft values inputs from a various set of voices. That mentioned, the opinions and findings of our friends are their very own and so they could not essentially replicate Microsoft’s personal analysis or positions. WorkLab is produced by Microsoft with Godfrey Dadich Companions and Affordable Quantity. I’m your host, Molly Wooden. Sharon Kallander and Matthew Duncan produced this podcast. Jessica Voelker is the WorkLab editor.
