Finnair Antti Kleemola and Solita Marko Taipale

Yeah, there are multiple ones. If we start with the traditional ones, you have the cost efficiencies, how you make sure that you are able to do things faster, getting things faster to market. Then the second part could be that you are having your revenue sources increased, which are actually both our strategy. So the whole strategy of Finnair is based on automation at the moment. We are looking into revenue gains and cost gains. But the big thing for us from AI and automation is that you actually are able to do things at a much bigger scale than you would be able to do with just humans or standard computing. In our operations, the decision on which plane to run or delay is done by AI. We analyze the whole network 24/7, 365 days, trying to figure out if something happens. Previously, humans made decisions based on passenger count, but now because we are a network airline, we run planes in different locations simultaneously, and AI makes the most optimal flight plan. For example, previously the most important flight in the morning was Helsinki to Shanghai, but actually it's Oulu to Helsinki because if that lands in time, it can go to Rome, pick up Italians to go to Japan, which are the most valuable customers.

Yes, it is. And we can now see that everybody in the audience and at Finnair has been playing around with ChatGPT and figuring out new ways of doing things, amazed by the simple UI that allows you to test things out. Previously it was like alchemy, but now it's just a tool. As Jing was saying, the co-pilot is going to come in, so it's going to be your partner in doing everything. Obviously there's a fear of change on the individual and corporate level.

It's a really important topic. I think the whole thing of adapting AI is more about change management. The technology is there, everybody can take it into use, it's cheap to trial and test, but it's all about change management. How do you make sure that you make long-lasting changes in your processes and the way the organization runs, and also the culture that we embrace data-driven decisions and having AI as our co-pilot in flying the planes. So that's the important part. How do we enable the whole organization and culture to adopt AI in everything we do?

It's a really good point. Of course it's personal, always depends on the individual tasks. But how we have approached it is that we have a systematic way. With the use of AI, we have given one team the option to use AI. First they were a bit scared, but then they embraced it when they saw the first demos. They realized that this thing they thought was in the future is here today, and their role changed. They are no longer doing that part of the process and have a different ability to do more and interact better with AI, freeing time from everyday tasks to make new processes and new business cases.

If we start, airlines is an interesting spectrum. We have our own everyday AI within the planes already, the real co-pilot. Automation that runs and lands planes has been there for decades, now improving. It removes human risk. In some cases it's better to rely on automation, in others on humans. You need to balance. With external data and AI, you can find new risks. For us, brand is critical, so we do social media analysis to understand perception of changes.

Of course, when you need to value the investment, there are multiple ways. Direct financial benefits like scaling teams, quicker time to market, better decisions. But the hard part is justifying without trying. So it's a leap of faith, but you need an agile approach to test and figure out the value rather than making a huge business case with wrong assumptions.

It always starts from the leader itself. In an organization, it needs to start from the board and CEO understanding the value and talking about it top-down, but also bottom-up from people doing everyday tasks. They realize that having an assistant allows them to innovate and be more productive. It's multi-dimensional. Our example is disruption management. When a plane is delayed, we need to accommodate passengers. We want to provide a personal experience, understanding their preferences.

It's at the core of everything we do. It's the next level competitive advantage. We want to be the first to move. It brings value to operations, better customer experience, and employee experience by removing cumbersome tasks. We are looking at end-to-end processes where automation helps the whole process.

I've been an executive board champion or sponsor. In the disruption management case, I'm there to challenge the team and ask stupid questions because I'm not an airline person. I've been at the company for 10 months, so I can still ask why we are doing these steps. With better data and AI, do we need that task at all? Can we let customers make self-service selections?

Personally, I'm hoping for the co-pilot to get rid of PowerPoints. Nowadays, it's more about using external data to help decision making. Previously you couldn't analyze external happenings, now you can look externally and understand possibilities. That's been the biggest changer.

It is humbling. Sometimes you feel a bit small. Also coming back to the role of CIO, do we need this role in the future? I don't think so in the long term because skills need to be learned by everyone with the help of automation and low code.

First, it will be an assistant helping you with tasks. Then it will provide new insights and experiences. In the end, it will be a marriage of AI and human in almost every role. You need to find the balance, like in a real relationship. You might even argue with AI, but so far only one winner.

At the moment, we have the strategy execution where we support different teams building strategic capabilities with AI and external data. We also have open demos within the company to share ideas. It's about trying it out but being careful with inside data. Safety first, but moving forward with tools to test and learn.

My personal thoughts are no. If you look at industrial development, humans have been given more ability to have free time or do more. We have always selected to do more. So it will enhance capabilities. The bigger issue is that if AI takes over little tasks, we don't train people to do those tasks, so how do we jump the junior phase? That's a challenge for learning and development.

That's a great question. If you look at 5G, how many use cases do we have? So if we have more ability to do things faster, how do we utilize that? My Instagram cat videos are much faster.

It's a valid point. I've had a chat with a person who is already using AI for board work. It's happening. It starts with having an external view because board members don't have company insights. With AI, you can bring external data to every decision point, even live at meetings. That will change board interaction and better equip board members to challenge leaders.

It depends on your daily tasks. Start with what you have and build from there. Use AI to assist yourself to be better in that role. Learn from external data and views to become better at your job. Then build from there. You could go in a completely different direction and create a new career.