Gen AI: A Guide For CFOs
McKinsey & Company, Monday, November 20,2023
How should CFOs approach generative AI-enterprise-wide and in the finance function-and what can they do right now to rapidly climb the learning curve?
Technology changes every business, often radically, and the pace of change is getting faster. Now, generative AI (gen AI) is beginning to show its disruptive potential (see sidebar 'Gen AI: A primer'). The technology won't affect all businesses equally, and certainly not at the same time. Yet across industries and geographies, gen AI could present substantial opportunities for significant value creation.
But value doesn't create itself. Instead, it's the CFO's role to allocate resources at the enterprise level-rapidly, boldly, and disproportionately-to the projects that create the most value, regardless of whether they are driven by gen AI. Similarly, in leading the finance function, the CFO can't implement gen AI for everyone, everywhere, all at once. CFOs should select a very small number of use cases that could have the most meaningful impact for the function. In this article, we'll discuss how CFOs can most effectively approach gen AI company-wide, prioritize specific use cases within the finance function, and rapidly climb the gen AI learning curve.