The Big Question.

“Do you use any Generative AI tools at work?” Now in 2024, receiving such a job interview question is likely… and in some sectors of the market such as IT, it’s almost certain.

To start with, the outlook on generative AI by employers is changing. Now, using GenAI tools for work is no longer seen as a sign of laziness.

Instead, people view it as a sign of efficiency at work. This also shows one is in touch with market trends.

Multiple studies show that when used correctly, GenAI can effectively increase job satisfaction and reduce cognitive load at work (Jaffe et al., 2024). Ethan Mollick described this in his essay “Centaurs and Cyborgs on the Jagged Frontier.”

A recent study by Boston Consulting Group revealed this. Their consultants using ChatGPT-4 outperformed those who did not — in any way you can measure performance.

According to the peer-reviewed Harvard Business School and Boston Consulting Group study published in Organization Science, consultants using GPT-4 completed tasks over 25% faster and produced results rated over 40% higher in quality than those working without AI.

But obviously, you need to be thoughtful about applying AI in your daily practice and express this thoughtfulness in the job interview. Therefore, your response to the question should contain 5 key elements:

1. How Do You Diagnose Your Own AI Use?

Are you a centaur or a cyborg? It is a great sign for an employer if you can conceptualize and verbalize your way of implementing AI into your work.

For instance, centaurs’ work distinctly separates human and machine tasks, similar to the clear demarcation between the human torso and horse’s body in the mythical centaur. This approach involves a strategic division of labor, alternating between AI and human tasks, and assigning responsibilities according to the strengths and capabilities of each.

Example: In medical diagnosis, a doctor conducts a physical examination and interacts with the patient to gather symptoms and medical history.

An AI system analyzes the patient’s data, including lab results, medical images, and historical health records, to suggest potential diagnoses and treatment options.

The doctor leverages their expertise and interpersonal skills to understand the patient’s condition, while the AI processes large datasets and identifies patterns that may not be immediately evident to the human eye.

On the contrary, cyborgs seamlessly merge machine and human elements, integrating them closely. Rather than simply delegating tasks, cyborgs intertwine their efforts with AI, working in tandem. In the partnership of flesh and code, brilliance is born.

Example: Graphic designers, writers, and musicians use AI-powered software that collaborates with them in real time. These tools can suggest design elements, complete sentences, or generate musical accompaniments based on the artist’s input.

The creative process becomes a collaborative effort between the human and AI. In addition, the AI augments the artist’s creativity. It also provides new possibilities the human might not have conceived on their own. This kind of division of labor is a small preview of how AI is transforming talent management across many industries.

2. How Does AI Affect Your Time Management?

Does AI make you more time-efficient? How do you know?

However, do not assume that generative AI will make you faster across all tasks. A randomized controlled trial published in Science found that ChatGPT cut the time professionals spent on writing tasks by about 40% while raising output quality, though the size of the effect varied by task. In practice, the only way to know for sure for your own work is systematic measurement. You can say:

“Before I decide to utilize AI for a certain type of task, I measure and compare the time necessary to complete a task with and without AI. For instance, I calculated something.

Creating summaries using generative AI is about 3 times faster. Additionally, this is true even if I need to edit the outcome text by hand. Therefore, I decided to use AI for all tasks that include compiling text. Tracking results like this is part of what reskilling for the age of AI actually looks like in day-to-day work.”

3. How Do You Ensure AI Output Quality?

Unfortunately, there is an increasing number of workers who replace thinking by using AI and copy-paste GenAI-generated text without even reading it. Therefore, it’s important to underscore that you never put your signature on any content without reading and approving every detail.

4. Lifelong Learning.

Overall, most employers care more that you follow general trends and master the most popular tools than that you hack niche tools. So, how do you update your knowledge of AI?

What are your sources? It can be any source, from chatting with colleagues, through Twitter, to tech-oriented YouTube channels and specialized forums dedicated to GenAI.

5. Awareness of IP Protection.

This is a tricky one. Indeed, we are at the stage when it becomes obvious that the protection of data and other Intellectual Property is becoming crucial and complex in the GenAI world. For instance, some of the openly available GenAI applications can use your prompts and data used in the prompting process to train their models further, while other GenAI applications don’t.

Before you use any GenAI platform or application at work, discuss it with your employer first. Do this especially when you use sensitive data. This also applies to other protected IPs that belong to your employer. Being able to speak clearly about these boundaries is exactly how AI companies evaluate job candidates during technical interviews.

Furthermore, some jurisdictions introduced additional norms for implementing AI systems in products and services. For instance, the European Union introduced the AI Act.

This Act has been in power since August 2nd, 2024. As a result, it regulates which domains AI can use with and without additional supervision and external certification.

According to the European Commission, the AI Act entered into force on August 1st, 2024, with its provisions being phased in through 2027 as the main framework for regulating AI systems across the EU. Staying on top of rules like this is simply part of how to stay relevant in the AI economy as an employee anywhere in the world.

This is yet again a good reason to underscore at a job interview that you never use AI solutions for work without explicit approval from your manager. Best of luck at your next job interview! Preparing thoughtful answers like these is ultimately one of the clearest ways to practice how to future-proof your career against AI.