Many IT professionals are wondering what’s next for generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Copilot considering all the hype of 2023. Seline Karakaya, founder and managing director of Excelerate Global, a venture capital and private equity advisory group, and Jeffrey Catteau, partner, AuxoAI, an early-stage AI company, discussed current trends at a recent BrightTalk webinar, “AI and the Future of Business,” hosted by Ramesh Donath of the AIEntrepreneurs.com.
“In 2024, generative AI will go from summarizing and structuring content to delivering actionable insights,” said Karakaya. “Right now, AI applications are focused on reading and unpacking documents and other content. I believe AI will be moving to greater understanding of that content, helping us deliver a better experience to our users and customers.”
Within the enterprise, AI will be moving from the lab into application, said Catteau. Organizations can gain value by learning from their experiments and taking the next step, such as improving the employee experience and scaling the workforce, he added, noting that first-movers can extract significant benefits.
Catteau said that AI can now “nudge” the human in the loop, such as creating an initial draft of a proposal or making a recommendation on a contract. As for use cases, AI has great potential to support many human resource functions, from onboarding to expense accounts to retirement benefits, and provide better service to employees. “These tools can evolve and become smarter digital co-workers,” he added.
More predictions
Here are several more predictions from Karakaya and Catteau regarding AI’s potential in the coming months:
• Greater accessibility. Enterprises were front and center in the initial AI wave, Karakaya said. Now, she expects small businesses and solo entrepreneurs to pick up on the trend. “There are free tools out there, and it would be great to see more organizations using them,” she added.
• Decentralization. Microsoft and other major tech companies are working to embed AI in their capabilities, Catteau said. That will empower individual users, who may be applying these tools themselves without relying on the IT department.
• More experimentation by the public and by IT professionals. “I would expect the active tech cohort using generative AI will get to 90 percent or more this year,” Karakaya said. “On a personal level, there are so many use cases you can try, from family meal planning to developing a storybook for your kids.”
• Deep fake hysteria. As the U.S. general election in November draws closer, Karakaya expects more media coverage of AI-driven deep, which could lead to public distrust about these tools.
Aligning tools, people and priorities
As business leaders become more comfortable with AI, they will want to talk with IT professionals about applying these tools to their areas. For instance, marketing and product development may well have different perspectives on how best to deploy AI, Catteau said. That makes it important to hold multidisciplinary discussions to set priorities for the coming year.
Once senior leadership identified the primary areas of focus, IT leaders will face the challenges of implementation. That includes looking at the team’s current skill set, as well as applying the most appropriate technology. “Once there is a meeting of the minds on AI, you need to think about reskilling or upskilling to meet those objectives,” Karakaya said. “Just remember that this process can’t happen just with IT – it has to be strategic in the organization.”
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