On 22 March 2024 we held our latest SEED Connect event, titled “Innovate or Stagnate – The Role of AI in Shaping Future Leadership” with invited leaders and executives. Our keynote speakers and guests discussed their experiences with AI and shared their challenges and best practices regarding the topic. They also talked about their predictions for the future of AI and whether or not it can replace the human workforce. 

Our guest speakers at the event were:

• Ákos Deliága – Talk-A-Bot, Co-Founder and Managing Director
• András Fischer – Innovation Tribe Lead, OTP Bank
• Ákos Janza – MSCI, Managing Director – Global Head of Offices
• István Mag – MOL Group, Head of Digital Factory
• László Sabjányi – Bolt, Managing Director

At the beginning of the event, György Leitner (Business Director of SEED) shared the results of our latest research regarding the topic of the role of AI in leadership. According to the research, the majority of leaders expect AI to have an impact on competitiveness; however, only 29% of the companies (in the CEE region) have a leader responsible for AI. Similarly, only 25% of companies have a formal AI strategy, while just 6% of them have a budget dedicated to AI. 

The moderator of the event was László Aczél, our faculty member. 

László Sabjányi shared, that he thinks AI could even replace agencies; however, considering that AI produces work that is 70% good and 30% bad, it is the task of seniors to revise the output. The key question is that how are we using AI, as we must not get too comfortable and lose our competitive edge as a result. He further highlighted, that an important skill a junior can have nowadays is the ability to use AI effectively, and schools and universities have to support them in this regard instead of prohibiting them the use of AI. He shared, that he thinks it will take a long time until it reaches everyone and every company in our society.

István Mag told us about how MOL uses AI in their operation; their industry is quite data-rich, and AI allows them to use these data more effectively. According to him, it depends on the profession who will lose their job, and brought the example of a Chinese festival (similar to Black Friday) called Double11, where AI replaced 100 000 agents. He also thinks, that the creative industry, including the film industry is facing a big transformation. At MOL, they are mostly experimenting with the use of predictive and generative AI in identifying strategic segments and creating micro segments, in order to send personalized offers to their customers. This has already resulted in a multiplication of ROI. 

András Fisher shared that OTP is cautious about implementing AI due to regulations. However, they have been analyzing it since 2020 and made it public in 2021 that they are developing a supercomputer and a Hungarian model with an American company. In this project, the key is innovation and developing strategic capabilities. He said, that he doesn’t think that data is the new oil, but rather information; there are a lot of steps between the two that need to be improved to get valuable results. He highlighted that it is important to remember Bill Gates thoughts: we tend to overestimate the changes of the next 2 years and underestimate the impact they have on the next 10 years. This can also be observed in the case of AI. 

Ákos Janza told us that they are primarily researching how generative AI can augment the plain white collar worker and how they can provide services with its assistance at minimal cost. According to their information, if the right person uses AI in the right way, it means an average 19% increase in productivity. He shared, that only those people can take advantage of AI and increase productivity so much, who understand it and this makes education very important. As for how they use AI in their business, he told us, that a lot of business reports and public data can be aggregated with AI, and it helps in processing and interpretation as well. 

Ákos Deliága offered a unique perspective regarding the topic as the co-founder of Talk-A-Bot, which provides AI based services. He shared that, based on his experience, juniors can adapt to using AI very well and can deliver solutions that compete with senior knowledge. He thinks, that seniors have to be adaptable as well, otherwise, they may not be useful members of a team in the future. Research suggests that there is very strong organizational resistance to AI: managers are enthusiastic, but employees are worried about losing their jobs. If firms with AI-based processes appear, competition will be completely transformed.

Thank you for your active participation and the valuable insights and experiences that you shared with all of us!

We hope to see you on our next event!
The SEED Team