How Generative AI May Fit Into Your Organization
While the interest in generative AI is clear, the business use cases for this kind of technology are less clear.
Even Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT parent company OpenAI, said much of the hype about ChatGPT isn't what the tool can accomplish now, but more about its future iterations.
More specifically, he's referencing GPT-4, which, rumors say, will deliver on something closer to Artificial General Intelligence, or AGI.
"The GPT-4 rumor mill is a ridiculous thing," Altman told The Verge. "People are begging to be disappointed, and they will be .... We don’t have an actual AGI, and that’s sort of what’s expected of us.”
Where does that leave companies that are expecting the technology to propel them forward?
Generative AI Will Become Part of Business Strategies
Since the emergence of generative AI, and more specifically ChatGPT, numerous vendors have been trying to find ways to capitalize on these capabilities.
In late February, Quantive (formerly Gtmhub) announced it is adding new generative AI capabilities into its platform Quantive Results, which, the company stated, will offer organizations better ways to track goals and meet business objectives using AI built on large learning models (LLMs) offered by generative AI.
"When it comes to strategy execution, AI capabilities will make workflows more efficient, guide and advise the user, and turn large amounts of complex data into meaningful insights," the company wrote in its blog.
The implication here is that generative AI will become a key part of the business strategy, and not just a technology that contributes to it.
Brendan McGreevy, head of strategy at Australia-based Affinda, said generative AI's ability to generate content makes it an adaptable solution for business. Already, he said, the discussion is not about how we can integrate AI products into business strategies; it’s about how far an organization would go with the adoption of AI across its business processes.
On the creative side, it could start with logo designing and go on to cover an entire range of solutions, up to inventive and real-time advertising campaigns that align with the latest market trends.
Across business processes, it can influence and reinvent product designs, automate and execute operational task lists, and create customized solutions for content-based strategies, McGreevy said.
More importantly, he said, the ability of generative AI to obtain and review data and introduce changes and adjustments in real-time makes it a comprehensive business intelligence partner.
He pointed out that the imaginative quotient of a business is often limited to the creative abilities of its in-house team or hired agency. Even on the business front, inventive strategies are not necessarily the rule but often an afterthought. With generative AI bringing to an organization’s doorstep a wide range of practical and highly adaptable solutions, businesses of all sizes can recreate the functionality and delivery of their business processes.
“The business future is no longer about the inventiveness of a business team," McGreevy said. "The future will now play out in line with the ability of a business to recognize, onboard and utilize its AI solutions."
Related Article: Generative AI Results Should Come With a Warning Label
But It Isn't Ready for the Enterprise Prime Time Just Yet
Still, the applications in the business sphere are limited at the moment.
Wayne Butterfield, partner with ISG, said it all depends on what an organization wants to do. And, he said, don't count on the benefits to be clear immediately.
Learning Opportunities
“Generative AI will be transformational to many, but we should not expect it to make an immediate impact right now,” he said. “Expect the technology to augment much of what we do today in the creation of content, design and even code.”
He warns that until many of the tailwinds like hallucinations — the unexpected falsehoods generated by an AI model — or ownership are ironed out, most consumption will be at an individual versus an enterprise level.
For the moment, generative AI is best thought of as an accompaniment to existing operations, a technology integrated with people operations to enable an improved level of efficiency without totally transforming the enterprise.
Ultimately, though, this will impact ROI. Generative AI is likely to make people more efficient in various roles where creation or summarization of content is required. Think customer service, communications or marketing, for instance.
The immediate future is very much about augmentation, Butterfield said, with human curation on top feeding into business strategies.
Related Article: What ChatGPT in Microsoft 365 Could Spell for the Workplace
Other Generative AI Possibilities
Some argue that generative AI promises more than content generation — even in these early stages of the technology.
Bill Galusha, VP of intelligent document processing at ABBYY, said enterprises also have the opportunity to explore using generative AI to improve customer experiences.
“Industries across the board, from banks to insurance companies, and healthcare to government agencies, realize that online conversations with digital assistants are increasing and must be improved," he said. While there are legitimate risks associated with its use, such as its vulnerability to human biases, he said there is no denying the sophistication of its output and the utility it can offer to business experiences.
Microsoft’s plan for integration of ChatGPT functionality into elements of the Microsoft 365 suite also implies its connection to intelligent document processing and other business processes, Galusha said. This indicates a potential to expand generative AI to interpret data and provide personalized output in a customer-facing functionality.
Cliff Jurkiewicz, VP of global strategy at global HR tech company Phenom, said he expects the adoption of generative AI to be unlike anything we've seen before. ChatGPT, he said, is a real-world example of generative AI, and it's gained 1 million users in five days in December 2022. In comparison, it took Netflix 3.5 years to reach one million subscribers
“From a business standpoint, the initial benefit of generative AI is efficiency with accuracy. It's about doing tasks faster,” Jurkiewicz said. “Over time, it will constantly learn, and it will be about doing things better. So ultimately, it will be about performing tasks better and faster with increasing levels of precision.”
About the Author
David is a European-based journalist of 35 years who has spent the last 15 following the development of workplace technologies, from the early days of document management, enterprise content management and content services. Now, with the development of new remote and hybrid work models, he covers the evolution of technologies that enable collaboration, communications and work and has recently spent a great deal of time exploring the far reaches of AI, generative AI and General AI.
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