The best way to begin learning [how to interact with LLMs] is to find a project with an attractive benefit-to-cost ratio and low risks and start trying things. The same approach should be used with more-ambitious efforts to work with generative AI, such as combining an LLM with other technologies. Rapid iteration is the best way to learn and make progress. The faster an organization can move through repeated OODA loops of observing the situation, orienting for action, deciding what to do, and then acting, the more it will learn, and the faster productivity gains and other benefits will appear.

Is generative AI’s importance overblown? Are its risks worth thepotential rewards? How can companies figure out where best toapply it? What should their first steps be? To provide guidance,this article draws on our research comprising studies of specificgenerative-AI projects and broad analyses of how the technologywill affect tasks and jobs throughout the economy.