My colleague Francesco Barosi provides a compelling commentary about how a business should approach the opportunities associated with the most recent AI development, commonly referred to as generative AI. He makes a good observation that concern about the potential of conflicts between tech and people should not displace exploration of the benefits of AI, such as enhancing human insights and capabilities.
Recognising that there will be significant challenges, as foreshadowed by early chatbot failures, it seems clear that the genie is out of the bottle. For example, the major law firm Allen & Overy recently adopted such technology to see how it can help its lawyers become more efficient in drafting documents. This is experimental, but an interesting space to watch as it is the latest iteration in a 15-year effort to develop an effective process to harness the intellectual capital accumulated by a team or organisation. Applying this technology to a controlled set of data and users who share a common purpose should also improve its effectiveness in identifying, organizing and disseminating information.
While the debate continues as to whether generative AI is a fad or a revolution, it is worth remembering that when the internet was nascent, it took years for mainstream users to recognise its value and fill the gap between sceptics and early adopters.
As data volumes continue to grow and most companies are coping with out-of-date technology. This is something of a perfect storm, leading to considerable value being hidden and/or inaccessible.
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