Artificial intelligence: a look at trends, risks and career opportunities

CANCOM Slovakia: Katja, how do you think AI will affect our working lives in the future?

Katja: I am convinced that AI will profoundly change our working lives – and in many ways. Our tasks will change because AI offers enormous potential, especially for increasing the efficiency of tasks that currently still require manual intervention. Saving time and resources is a crucial aspect here. In the future, we will be able to go one step further.

I recently spoke to a colleague in sales for whom AI has become indispensable in his day-to-day work. With the help of AI tools, he is able to obtain information much faster and thus has to involve fewer colleagues in the process. This in turn means that he can submit an offer to the customer more quickly, as he no longer has to wait for feedback. This support has therefore both increased efficiency and boosted sales.

In addition, the colleagues have gained time as a result, so that they can work more focused and purposefully on large projects – or even take on further topics. I also see enormous advantages in project management: from transcription and AI-supported logging of meetings to the automation of routine tasks – AI not only saves time here, but also helps to organize projects in a more structured way. As these technologies continue to mature, they will provide much more support in our day-to-day work.

Depending on the industry, there are not only application scenarios such as LLMs but also robotic solutions, for example in healthcare. In medicine, AI robots are used to perform complex surgical procedures with greater precision, but AI can also help save lives in diagnostics when it comes to the early detection of diseases. These are just a few of the areas in which AI will continue to make progress.

CANCOM Slovakia: Which current trends in the field of AI in the workplace are you following particularly closely?

Katja: Another point that will increasingly occupy more space in the world of work is agents and bots that are individually adapted to workflows and processes. In this context, voice-to-text and voice-to-voice technologies will also play an increasingly important role, and with them the topic of avatars. We can already see how this technology is developing, for example in tools like Microsoft Teams, which can automatically transcribe conversations and use them to create instant meeting notes and to-do lists. I am convinced that speech-processing bots will become even more important in the future. Voice-to-voice solutions, such as live translations, can promote the exchange between international employees and significantly minimize language barriers. No matter which department we look at, AI has a lot to offer us.

CANCOM Slovakia: Do you also see risks in the use of AI?

Katja: Yes, there are definitely risks. Data protection is a key issue. There are good reasons for risk classification and strict regulations, especially for sensitive data. In my opinion, one example of this is “real-life avatars” – as fascinating as the technology may be, it can be used to spread fake news in a risky and deliberately manipulative way. If such technologies are misused, it can have far-reaching consequences not only for individuals but for society as a whole. We should therefore proceed with caution and be particularly careful with sensitive data.

CANCOM Slovakia: How do you keep up to date with the rapid developments in the field of AI?

Katja: Since developments in this area are progressing so rapidly, I use several sources of information to stay up to date. I am active in various networks and regularly attend events hosted by manufacturers and leading AI companies, as well as training sessions. It’s not just the content that’s exciting, but also the exchange with other experts. In addition, I follow a wide range of newsletters and YouTube channels and use AI tools, such as the Microsoft Copilot in Edge, to search for specific up-to-date information. This helps me stay up to date and integrate relevant trends into my work.

CANCOM Slovakia: What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into the AI field professionally?

Katja: I would recommend really immersing yourself in AI. This area has come a long way in recent years. Studying or training in AI can be a good way to get started, but internships and contact with experienced professionals are also valuable. It’s especially important to stay curious and try out the technologies. That’s how you learn the most and get a better understanding of what AI can and can’t do. AI changes quickly, and you have to stay on top of it to keep up. There are many freely accessible tools and platforms where you can experiment with caution.

CANCOM Slovakia: What opportunities do you see for non-technical people to get started in AI?

Katja: There are many exciting opportunities for non-technical people in the AI field too! I myself have a good technical understanding, but I am not an AI developer or AI engineer. Particularly when it comes to launching and implementing AI projects, knowledge of strategic planning, communication and organizational development with a basic technical understanding is required. A good AI team benefits from both types of people: AI developers with a technical background, and those who can manage and control projects and ultimately build bridges between development and user teams.

CANCOM Slovakia: What would you recommend to people who are skeptical about AI?

Katja: I had concerns at the beginning, too. The more I dealt with the topic, the more aware I became of how strongly AI is already integrated into our everyday lives. As soon as I started working with AI tools and saw the useful aspects, my view of the technology changed completely. My advice would be to just try it out and experience how AI tools make tasks easier and simply take over or greatly simplify tedious activities.

New technology is usually seen as a threat at first and yes, the way we work changes, just like it did with the internet back in the day, but it also clearly creates new opportunities. Ultimately, it is our subjective view that determines whether we find AI helpful and use it or see it as a threat and close ourselves off from something we ultimately have no control over. Because a person who uses AI will, in the future, be faster and more efficient in their abilities than a person who shuts themselves off from AI.

CANCOM Slovakia: How does AI affect you personally?

Katja: I now use many tools to obtain information in my private life as well. I also realized how much AI I had already been using before, which I hadn’t been aware of. I think most of us feel the same way. Every time I use a voice assistant like Siri or control my navigation device by voice, I’m already working with AI.

But I also enjoy being completely analog from time to time – for example, with a classic notebook. My lecturer always said: “The idea goes from the head to the pen to the paper. And whoever writes remains.” This is a deliberate contrast to the digital world and gives me the feeling of having a little break from the constant digital input.

Thank you for your insights into this exciting topic.

You haven’t read the first part of the interview about the use of AI at CANCOM yet? You can find it here.