At the Heart of the Matter
The power of AI in fulfilling human knowledge-related work.
A brilliant 'unicorn' study was published by Harvard Business School in 2023. A ‘unicorn’ because its like will almost certainly never be published again.
The research was conducted in partnership with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) involving 758 BCG consultants (crème de la crème business brainpower) to see if ChatGPT enhanced their work.
Results were conclusive. The ChatGPT users increased the quality of their work by 40% and used 25% less time in getting it done than those without access to ChatGPT. Findings not easy to square with BCG management consultancy clients who might reasonably expect fees to be lowered as a result.
It is profound stuff for all expertise-based service businesses and organisations and also for the expertise functions, such as management, within all businesses. Using Generative AI enables more work to be done in less time to a better overall standard.
AI and the Future of Agriculture
If farmwork can be considered a blend of horsepower and brainpower, the former will increasingly involve non-generative AI and the latter will increasingly involve Generative AI. Brainpower is obviously behind all the short, medium and long term decisions keeping a farm operating towards goals of profitability, sustainability, biodiversity and so on.
Employing generative AI for on-farm co-intelligence is by far the best and most efficient means of fulfilling many tasks. It is superior to trawling through websites, summoning search engine results and calling on social media for answering questions and farm problem-solving.
Generative AI, if requested, is able to remember. This means it will gradually grow a working knowledge of what the farm comprises, what normal practices are undertaken and so can increasingly be involved in farm management without requiring full briefings on mew topics.
The Key to Increasing Farm Profits
This customised 'farming co-intelligence' will be each farmer's best friend and provide the best solution to a perennial problem. UK national success in achieving higher farm yields via decades of deploying new agritechs has mostly failed to translate into ascending farmers’ profits (see The Agritech Paradox).
So, how is Generative AI different? How will this agritech be able to raise farm profits where others tend strongly not to do so?
Highlighting the paradox and providing the Generative AI route to the solution is the best ever piece of research into farm profitability. The Characteristics of High Performing Farms in the UK was published in 2018 by the AHDB.
Using gold-standard Farm Business Survey data, farms were paired into two groups sizeable enough to give statistically significant results: so for each most profitable farm a similar ‘twin’ farm was identified in the less profitable group. This brilliant idea meant that decision-making skills were isolated from all other factors.
It’s a really fascinating read, and most important of all is the revelation that the relationship between farm management practices and farm profitability is 70%+ derived from the farmer's farm decision-making skills: an area where Generative AI stands out for providing an invaluable level of support.
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