AI’s breakthrough year: what’s next for your business?

Severine Faurax -

What a ride the last year has been for AI! Especially since the launch of ChatGPT, things have been moving super fast. It's like the whole field is constantly changing, but that's a good thing – it means there's a ton of exciting innovation happening. Let's take a quick look back at some of the coolest things that have happened, and what it all means for the future.

🌍 AI's big impact across industries

  • Customer service : consider Clara, a customer service company that uses AI (specifically OpenAI) to handle a whopping two-thirds of their customer inquiries! That's like having 700 extra customer service reps, all thanks to AI. And Clara isn't alone – AI customer service is becoming a big deal, with millions of potential agents around the world.

  • Coding with AI? You Bet! We've gone from AI that kind-of-maybe helps write code to fully-fledged AI software engineers. This means more software being built, and hopefully a better life for all of us thanks to AI's advancements.

  • Design : AI is transforming design with image generation and content creation, freeing up designers to focus on strategy and creative direction.

  • Education : AI tutors and personalized learning platforms are changing the way education is delivered. AI can tailor learning experiences to individual students' needs, potentially making education more effective and accessible.

  • Lawyers get tech savvy: Believe it or not, the legal industry used to be pretty resistant to new tech. But things are changing! Companies like Harvey are using AI to automate significant portions of legal work, from routine tasks to advanced analysis. This shift is transforming the legal landscape.

📈 The growth and challenges of generative AI

  • Rapid growth and revenueA couple of years ago, generative AI was a bit of a question mark. Would it be useful for real businesses? Would it actually make money? Well, generative AI is now bringing in $3 billion in revenue – that's something the software-as-a-service industry took almost ten years to achieve! This rapid growth is a clear sign that generative AI is here to stay.

  • Funding and development: the layer cake of AIThe funding landscape for AI reveals interesting trends. Contrary to expectations, the majority of funding has been directed towards foundational models rather than applications ($1.5 billion to developer tools and $1.5 billion to applications). This inverse pattern suggests that while the foundational layer is well-funded and growing, there is significant untapped potential at the application layer, which is just beginning to develop.

  • The realities of AI investmentDespite the impressive revenue figures, the investment in AI still outweighs the returns. Companies spent around $50 billion on Nvidia GPUs last year, yet AI revenue is only at $3 billion. This gap highlights the challenges and opportunities in optimizing AI investments to achieve better financial returns. Even though AI is making a lot of money now, it's still costing businesses more than it brings in.

  • User engagement: bridging the expectation-reality gapOne of the biggest challenges for AI applications is meeting users expectations. While AI demos can be impressive, real-world applications often fall short. Luckily, AI models are constantly getting better, which means AI solutions are becoming more reliable and effective all the time. However, some industries, like customer service, have already found a product market fit. AI chatbots are proving their value by providing 24/7 support and streamlining customer interactions.

🔮  Predictions for 2024: What to Expect

  • Autonomous agentsReal applications will evolve from co-pilots to fully autonomous agents in fields like software engineering and customer service.

  • Advanced reasoningNew research will make AI better at reasoning and planning, which means it will be able to tackle more complex tasks.

  • High-stakes enterprise applicationsAI will move beyond fun prosumer apps and start being used for important tasks in businesses, like healthcare and defense.

  • AI in productionA lot of AI projects are still in the early stages. As these projects move forward, things like speed, cost, and who owns the data will become even more important.

The future of AI is bright and the possibilities are endless! Customer support is just the beginning. Entire industries are going to be disrupted.

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