‘Hallucination detection’ and AI work trends outlined as Kiwis embrace new technology

Instead of taking your entire job, AI might perform some of your tasks - but rising unemployment across the broader economy made AI adoption important, a Microsoft and LinkedIn report says. Photo / Getty Images

In water cooler talk, it might be the monster coming for your job or the scammer’s paradise about to put us all in the matrix.

But many workers in a new survey said AI helped them save time, focus on their most important work and be more creative.

AI and generative AI are everywhere and a Microsoft chief says Kiwis are ahead of many other countries adopting the technology.

“Often people think of their job holistically. Actually, AI will take tasks - for example, summarise this document, what insights are in this data that I’m not aware of?” Microsoft ANZ chief technology officer Sarah Carney told the Herald.

“The reality is you still need the human element.”

She called those elements connection, contact, and context.

Carney said “AI inertia” happened when organisations could see the need to adopt AI but were getting stuck.

She said a major issue now was about how companies moved past experimentation to large-scale adoption.

“We’ve reached the tipping point.”

Another area of interest was hallucination detection. Could AI become such a people-pleaser it decided to make up answers to questions?

“How much of a response is made up by the system?”

Microsoft and LinkedIn’s annual Work Trend Index was released overnight.

It found New Zealand workers were among the strongest adopters of generative AI in the workplace, with 84 per cent using the technology at work, compared to a global average of 75 per cent.

Microsoft said rising unemployment meant it was even more important for New Zealand workers to upskill.

The rapid uptake meant New Zealand leaders were more worried than global counterparts about their organisation lacking a plan or vision to implement AI.

Almost three-quarters of Kiwi business leaders in the survey said they were concerned about that.

Microsoft said a spectrum of AI users emerged in recent findings, from sceptics who rarely used it to “power users” who embraced it extensively.

“Compared to sceptics, AI power users have re-oriented their workdays in fundamental ways, re-imagining business processes and saving over 30 minutes per day.”

The findings were based on a survey of 31,000 people across 31 countries, labour and hiring trends on LinkedIn, trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals, and research with Fortune 500 customers.

The survey report said 90 per cent of respondents said AI helped them save time and 85 per cent said it helped them focus on their most important work.

“Organisations that apply AI to drive growth, manage costs, and deliver greater value to their customers will pull ahead,” said Lucy Debono, Microsoft ANZ modern work business director.

According to LinkedIn data, there had been a big increase in that site’s users adding AI skills such as Copilot and ChatGPT to their profiles in the past year.

“Leaders have made their land grab for technical AI talent, with hiring up 323 per cent globally in the last eight years,” said Matt Tindale, LinkedIn Australia and New Zealand managing director.

“Now they’re turning their sights to non-technical talent with AI-aptitude.”