Snehal Antani, CEO and Co-Founder of Horizon3.ai, speaks with Katya Mijatovic, Principal Data Scientist at Data Society and CDO Magazine Editorial Board Member, about the role of AI in offensive cyber, upskilling the current workforce and recruiting staff, implementing technology, and the impact of technology on business in the upcoming years.

Mijatovic interviewed Antani on the sidelines of the recently conducted AFCEA CeVA Data Centric Summit.

Antani begins by speaking about the role of AI in offensive cyber, a key aspect covered in his presentation. He says that understanding how much faster an offensive attack can unfold because of AI is critical today. He emphasizes the significance of the narrative, depicting a scenario where the provision of cupholders to Toyota by a small Japanese company became a focal point in cyber warfare.

Initially, Japan supported Ukraine, leading to alleged retaliation from Russia, which targeted the Japanese company.This action caused substantial economic damage, shutting down numerous production lines for Toyota. The crux of the matter lies not merely in the ransom of a small company but in the strategic application of minimal effort for maximal impact.

Antani underscores the emerging norm of cyber-enabled economic warfare, accelerated by AI's role in executing complex attacks swiftly, something that previously required significant human expertise over days or weeks, is now achievable within minutes.

In discussing the impact of AI in light of recruiting and upskilling, Antani points out the significance of technologies like ChatGPT in aiding experts. He likens such tools to having unlimited interns, enabling experts to ask even the most basic questions and receive helpful responses. This accessibility enhances productivity but also presents challenges for newcomers to the workforce.

Antani notes the pressure on them to rapidly upskill themselves to compete with AI, particularly in fields like software development. He highlights how AI co-pilots are proficient in generating production-quality code. Consequently, the demand shifts towards senior engineers who specialize in integrating and troubleshooting code, emphasizing the need for expertise in one's field to remain competitive in the evolving job market.

When asked about his approach to implementing new technology, Antani mentions that leaders like CIOs should not chase shiny objects. Instead, they should break problems down by asking questions like:

What problem are you solving?
What are the various ways to solve that problem?
How quickly can you not only adopt and implement it but roll it out to the people for use?

Antani mentions a similar approach for data science projects. He highlights the need to build teams pairing business domain expertise with data science. He mentions the need to ask questions like:

What do you want to understand?
What decision are you trying to influence?
What insights are needed to influence that decision?
What data is needed to derive those insights?

Further Antani says that the same approach applies to AI as well. Leaders need to be thoughtful about questions like:

What decisions am I trying to affect?
What insights are needed to affect those decisions?
What data is needed to derive those insights?

He adds that the decision-down mindset will be critical to the data science community going forward.

Next, Antani reflected on ChatGPT's evolution over the past couple of years, noting the swift adoption by individuals with limited tech backgrounds. He emphasized that the true allure of the AI realm lies not in its intricate algorithms and data pipelines, but rather in the ability to package these complexities into a user-friendly interface, thus making AI accessible to everyone.

Antani believes that democratizing access to powerful AI tools is the key innovation of the future, unlocking immense value for the next decade.

Speaking further on the shift towards AI, he says that society should look forward to a fundamental shift towards human-machine teaming, leaving low-value tasks to AI. Antani mentions that it will unlock massive economic value and transform every industry. He emphasizes a shift away from the traditional practice of hiring junior associates from lower-tier law schools. Instead, the focus is on recruiting top talent and augmenting their abilities with technology for enhanced productivity.

The aim isn't to replace human decision-making with artificial intelligence but to leverage it to expedite or assess decisions. While in some instances AI may supplant decisions, it poses challenges in sensitive industries. Antani anticipates that in the next five to ten years, the predominant uses of AI will be to hasten or scrutinize decisions rather than outright replacement.

CDO Magazine appreciates Snehal Antani for sharing his insights with our global community.

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