2024-09-02 14:03:29
In retrospect, this 37-year-old Parisian told himself that he could still have it “ask a question” to ChatGPT, the now famous so-called “generative” artificial intelligence (AI) software, capable of producing synthetic words from a large amount of data taken from web pages. Metropolis, Night of the Living Dead: the same titles appear on the screen. But this time it only takes a few seconds.
Guillaume is one of those for whom the arrival of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 has changed daily life at work. It is not to the point of being completely removed from renunciation “Ancient Search Engine”but still. “To find ideas, I use a lot: it gives me a form of feedback and helps me create a framework for thinking,” he said.
“Accidental, sometimes secret actions”
In five years, the proportion of French workers using AI in a professional position has increased from 14% to 22%, according to a IFOP study published in January 2024. The popularity of chat agents such as ChatGPT (or Gemini for Google, Copilot for Microsoft, etc.) has a lot to do with it, even if they are currently used more in a personal than a professional space – and only within the latter, use they. is more occasional than daily.
At work, AI has long been a story for employers: they can, for example, encourage their subordinates to use it to control the quality of a product or to anticipate the downtime of a machine. But since 2023 and the emergence of the first communication robots, this technology has become the business of workers.
“From a commanding order, its use has come to personal origin, summarizes sociologist Yann Ferguson, scientific director of LaborIA in Inria. What dominates in 2023, and undoubtedly again in 2024, are spontaneous actions, sometimes secret and even shameful. » According to Ifop, more than half of employees using AI at work have done so without informing their superiors.
“I’m not a machine”
Arthur is an example of these “pioneer” profiles who set out to spy – and without asking for anything else – to clear this new technological playing field. “Sometimes I like to ignore the fact that I use AI for a mission, identify this 37-year-old marketing consultant. It happened to me that a client became completely white when he learned about it, he wanted to repeat the work himself because he did not trust in the results obtained in this way. »
The “results”, in this case, are complex calculations made on the basis of figures compiled in Excel documents. For one of his missions, Arthur had to determine the problem index for different professional courses. “I have a lot of data, but how to measure it? I am not a machine…” So the machine works for him. “ChatGPT gave me something that seemed to be in line with my ideas. I checked it twice. In the end, it helped me a lot. The disadvantage is that the program does not give its instructions. » And for good reason, it doesn’t have, working only through statistical correlations.
Like Arthur, most algorithm enthusiasts at work are men, young, middle or senior managers. According to the Ifop survey published in January, 44% of executives are concerned (and also 54% of business leaders), compared to 17% of workers and 14% of workers. “These are the people who produce the content: news, emails, pictures, presentation materials…”sociologist Yann Ferguson lists.
Save time
What are these “white collar” workers looking for? “Above all, to save time, the professor continued. But also to explore new ideas, to show more creativity. » A paradox, when we know that these tools can’t “create” than from the past, mass-mixed data from the Internet.
When it comes to saving time, some results are in the Voice. Victor, an analyst at an investment fund, believes he will win “one to two hours a day” as long as you use AI to write emails, create images or write documents that show the startups you plan to invest in. “This gives me more time to meet traders: I can’t send ChatGPT there for me! “, smiled this 23-year-old young man.
Is it easy? Deal with the usual argument of free time for “High value projects”, CNRS researcher Élisabeth Peyroux said “unbeliever”. “The invention of AI is not a computer: the adoption of such tools comes with eternal skepticism as to their effectiveness”, confirms this geographer who considers the uses of AI in the educational world. “Does the model make mistakes, is it drawn from the right sources, is it best for my use? he asked. Having that perspective takes time and energy. »
Arthur, the sales consultant, gets it his way, always “exploration”can do it “waste time”. “But once I have developed quickly (guide to the program, Editor’s Note) effective, I use it again many times »he explained. Other users half-heartedly admit that these tools increase the speed of their work: “If I concentrate, I can write these words myself, but as I have tight deadlines…”
Bringing technology out of the shadows
Facing the free electrons of technology, more and more employers are taking it out of the shadows to process it better, emphasizing for the moment on its “optional” nature. “We want to be in an open position, to show our employees how AI can help them while making them aware of the risks,” explains Martine Gouriet, director of digital applications for the EDF group. On ChatGPT (from OpenAI), the company wants Copilot (from Microsoft) in order to guarantee better data protection.
At SNCF too, around 8,000 employees have been trained in AI innovation in recent months. “Both for support services, such as communication and human resources, and in more operational functions”specified Thierry Mourot-Leclercq, from the group’s digital department. One of the prospects is the automatic creation of announcements in stations.
Among the parts that have already adopted these new uses, the results from the field are however far from uniform. Some workers or government officials are discussing the tasks that are repeated more than before, and the loss of the initiative which makes them easy “authorities” of the instructions given by the machine.
In the worst cases – and rarely at present – equipment replaces the worker himself. This was the fate that Vincent was to suffer at the end of the month. This employee of the company Onclusive, who has been writing press releases for two years, was fired along with 216 of his colleagues.“Out of curiosity, I tried the tool before leavingconfides Vincent. It goes quickly, it is true, but the body is not good, without human touch. I look forward to the customers (companies and companies, Editor’s Note) he will not be satisfied with this race to the bottom. »
(1) The first name has been changed.
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Some uses of AI at work
Record meetings or interviews. Voice recognition software that automatically transcribes speech into writing is now in the thousands. Many offers, in addition to the full transcription, more concise reports.
Compile reports or documents. This appears to be one of the most common professional uses of artificial intelligence. However, this raises the question of data security, when it is internal to a company, or even privacy.
Create formulas in spreadsheets (especially Excel).
Respond to emails. This use causes more confusion than those indicated above, according to the Ifop barometer conducted in April for Talan. More than half of those surveyed did not “not ready” to send “semi-automatically” generated messages.
Build it yourself (almost) on your own. “Virtual tutors” are being developed, even if these are only tests. These communication agents (chatbots) are programmed to deliver professional training online.
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