Harvard Business School: Don’t Expect Juniors to Teach Senior Professionals to Use Generative AI

Summary of https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/24-074_bee7fd2f-882e-4e8c-adfe-150f8439dff6.pdf

This working paper examines the challenges of senior professionals learning to use generative AI from junior professionals. The authors argue that while the existing literature on communities of practice suggests that juniors are well-suited to teach seniors about new technologies, this is not the case with generative AI.

The paper highlights the emerging technology risks that senior professionals are concerned about, including inaccurate output, lack of explainability, and the possibility of user complacency. The authors suggest that juniors may recommend ineffective novice AI risk mitigation tactics because of their limited understanding of the technology's capabilities and their tendency to focus on changing human routines instead of system design.

The paper concludes by recommending that corporate leaders should focus on educating both junior and senior employees about AI risks and mitigating these risks through system-level changes and interventions at the ecosystem level.