At CPH, You Meet a Human Before a Chatbot: Why CPH's AI Journey Starts with Leaders

The Human Before the Technology

For Tenna Ørum-Kristensen, artificial intelligence is about understanding when technology creates value, and when people should remain at the center.

"I want the dialogue to be about what we should use AI for, and whether we should use AI at all in the specific situation. To be able to have that discussion, leaders need to understand the technology properly," she says.

One of the areas where she believes this discussion is particularly important is contact with passengers and customers.

While some companies are experimenting with digital avatars and AI-based customer service as the first point of contact, Tenna Ørum-Kristensen does not believe that more artificial intelligence is necessarily better.

"We use AI in the places where it can help us. But there are also situations where human contact creates the greatest value. That's why you won't meet a digital avatar as the first thing when you reach out to CPH," she says.

Opting Out Requires Insight

This is precisely why Tenna Ørum-Kristensen believes the AI journey should begin with leaders.

If the organization is to make qualified choices about where artificial intelligence should be used and where people should still play the leading role, it requires leaders who understand the technology well enough to assess both opportunities, limitations, and consequences.

According to her, being able to say no to artificial intelligence is at least as important as being able to say yes.

"You can only make a conscious decision to opt out if you understand what you're opting out of. That's why we start with leaders. They need to be able to set the direction and create a sense of security for employees when AI becomes part of everyday life," she says.

Four Modules to Strengthen Leaders' Understanding of AI

This mindset is the background for CPH's AI training for leaders, which aims to make leaders better equipped to navigate the opportunities and dilemmas that artificial intelligence brings.

The program starts as a pilot with the senior operations leadership team and the digital leadership team. The ambition is to subsequently scale the initiative to around 250 leaders during 2027.

The goal is not to turn leaders into AI specialists.

The goal is to give them a common language and a better basis for assessing where artificial intelligence can create value, and where people still make the biggest difference.

Three pieces of advice you can take back to your organization:

• The leaders in your organization need to understand and see where the technology can make a concrete difference in their specific context. If they can't, there is a long way from AI strategy to concrete change and implementation.
• Artificial intelligence and the necessary decisions must be anchored high up in executive management and cannot be left to a classic IT function.
• Make it as easy as possible to adopt for both leaders and employees. Context-relevant cases and training beat a generic program.

"Top executives come in two varieties: those who are highly critical of AI, and those who just want to charge ahead. Both are risky. You can neither close your eyes nor go all-in. You have to make your decision about how you want to work with AI on an informed basis."