Reengineering Work with AI: Overcoming the Infinite Workday and Unleashing the Full Potential of AI

In this edition of Eye on AI, we delve into the latest developments in artificial intelligence and how companies are using it to transform their work processes and organizational structures.

First, we explore Microsoft's research on the modern workday, which found that we are all trapped in "the infinite workday." People start checking their emails before they even get out of bed, and during core working hours, they are interrupted by messages or emails every two minutes on average—that's 275 interruptions per day. This exhausting schedule has created a "capacity gap" where 53% of leaders say productivity must increase, but 80% of workers say they lack the time or energy to do their jobs.

While everyone is hoping that AI will save us from this perfect storm of impossible expectations meeting human limitations, the technology itself won't do this. In fact, many of the ways companies are deploying AI and people are using the technology could make things worse. For instance, having AI help write more emails and summarize more meetings doesn't really solve the problem—it just greases the wheels of a dysfunctional system.

However, there are better ways to work with AI that can alleviate this burden. For instance, AI can be used to help craft prompts for tasks, and companies need to change their organizational structures and the way their employees work to get the most out of AI. Microsoft has identified "Frontier Firms" that are doing this, where 71% of workers say their company is thriving compared to just 37% globally. These companies prioritize impact over activity, redesign workflows instead of just trying to automate them, and use AI as agents that can handle entire workflows, not just individual tasks.

The Frontier Firms also tend to have much flatter organizational structures where teams are organized around completing a specific project, not around areas of expertise. This approach allows for more agile and flexible work processes that can adapt to changing needs and demands.

But getting the full benefits of AI means more than just changing organizational structures. It's about how you externalize knowledge and make things available for AI to learn from, creating feedback loops and being very intentional about the content you create for your teams. It's about creating a digital workplace where AI is a digital colleague, something to which you can assign entire tasks or processes.

For non-AI native companies, getting the full benefits of AI means changing organizational management and structures. It's about understanding the "people" aspect of AI as much as the technical details. Companies are overhauling their hiring processes to screen candidates for AI skills and attitudes, and AI is changing how employees train—and starting to reduce how much training they need.

In conclusion, the companies that get this right will have a big advantage in the future of work. They will be able to adapt quickly to changing needs and demands, be more agile and flexible in their work processes, and have a digital workplace that is powered by AI. The ones that don't? They'll just have increasingly efficient chaos and burnt out employees.

So what's next for AI? Fortune has unveiled a new hub, Fortune AIQ, dedicated to navigating AI's real-world impact. We'll roll out playbooks based on the learnings of companies at the front lines of the AI revolution to help you get the most out of AI—and turn AI into AIQ. The first playbook explores various aspects of how mastering the "human" element of an AI deployment is just as important as the technical details.

Stay tuned for more updates on the future