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Less than two years after OpenAI’s ChatGPT cannonballed into the market, people still speculate about how AI could power humanoid coworkers, manage the air-traffic control system or even bring about the end of the world. The hype has clearly taken hold.
Generative AI’s ability to create video is the latest to capture the collective imagination, but not everyone understands that the technology can’t handle basic chores like data entry. That’s why a recent article in Harvard Business Review argued companies must “think deep and hard” about how they can use it — before they begin down the path of implementation.
Keep Your AI Hopes Grounded in Reality
Executives need to keep their expectations for AI grounded in reality, honing in on what they need the technology to actually do. The quality of results is more important than if an app has a slick conversational interface, as the HBR authors observed. Some large language models are better at handling words and languages while others excel at image generation. A customer’s first order of business therefore is to understand the problems they need solve, then identify the most suitable solution.
A number of unknowns are still at play, which further complicates things. Legislators and regulators have begun to implement laws and policies governing AI’s use. Long-term costs are uncertain and there’s little history to guide procurement and implementation decisions. It’s something like the early days of the web: In the late 1990s, companies were convinced they needed a website even though they weren’t sure what they’d do with it.
Adding to this is the lack of technology standards, developers’ evolving preferences and the answer to which solution is best for each specific challenge remains clear. Those vendors that are selling AI technology aren't hiding the fact that their products are far from bullet-proof, while other companies exaggerate their capabilities when in fact their products use little, if any, AI at all.
Related Article: It Could Be 5 Years Before We See Productivity Gains From Generative AI
The Pressure to Do Something ... Anything
Executives have to tune out all of the noise to make truly informed decisions about AI. Even with the hype dialed down, they face a fair amount of guesswork as they try to plot a realistic course.
Sorting things out is made even more difficult by the number of people urging business leaders to do something. For example, Boston Consulting Group CEO Christoph Schweizer told The Wall Street Journal that businesses should get their feet wet sooner rather than later if they want to get ahead of the curve.
But what should that something be? While CEOs are convinced AI can solve a number of challenges, according to research by Orgvue, divisional leaders aren’t so sure. Indeed, many executives are skeptical about the value AI offers and how quickly it can be incorporated into their operations.
That’s dangerous, said Orgvue CEO Oliver Shaw. “A disconnect in perspective — between those at the top and those responsible for delivery — will ultimately derail any long-term plans for business change.”
Another challenge lies in the vendor landscape itself. Customers have to sift through the capabilities of well-known names like OpenAI and Google, as well as the growing number of startups offering products in the space. Then there’s something of an AI creep underway, where companies that aren’t focused on technology so much as data, such as Bloomberg and JPMorgan Chase, are exploring the possibilities of making their own products available.
Related Article: Ready to Roll Out Generative AI at Work? Use These Tips to Reduce Risk
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Full Speed Through the Fog
The need to explore and understand AI solutions is bewildering many technology customers, as providers rush to meet increasing demand with products and services that often overlap. “Since the ChatGPT excitement, I must have had at least 20 to 25 vendors in my portfolio reach out to me saying, ‘Hey, let us tell you about our generative AI co-pilot strategy,’” Equinix CIO Milind Wagle told The Wall Street Journal. “I feel like there’s a co-pilot war that needs to sort of happen.”
That said, it's possible this dynamic is beginning to settle down. Executives aren’t talking about AI as much as they did on earning calls, according to Bloomberg and Apollo Global Management Chief Economist Torsten Sløk. Mentions of “AI,” “machine learning” and “generative AI” have dropped from 517 during 2023’s fourth quarter to 198 during the first period of 2024, they said. (The all-time high was 691 mentions during Q3 2023.)
That could mean several things, from AI moving into the mainstream to more people putting it into historical perspective.
"The positive effects of technology continue to support firms, consumers and economic growth," Sløk told Yahoo Finance. "The question is if AI is anything special. So far it looks like AI is not a revolution but just a continuation of the tech trend that started in the 1990s."
