AI: Reminder that it's "still early". RTZ #426

...tempting to judge the AI pros and cons prematurely

I’ve been saying it for a while now in this AI Tech Wave, both for the enterprise and consumers. But it’s good to see it repeated for good measure.

As Axios reminds us all in their own way: “GenAI is still in its ‘early stages’”:

“Nearly 4 in 5 of the companies diving headlong into generative AI are seeing a positive return on their investment, according to results of a new ServiceNow study, shared first with Axios.”

“Why it matters: Businesses are under tremendous pressure to demonstrate they aren't missing out on the AI revolution, but many companies have struggled to go from experiments into full-scale use of the technology.”

“By the numbers: In its inaugural AI Maturity Index, ServiceNow surveyed nearly 4,500 respondents from 21 countries and found that most companies are still in the early stages of adopting generative AI.”

Lot more qualitative details on the survey that are worth understanding in the piece.

The choices for business managements everywhere are nebulous and daunting, as Axios outlines:

“What they're saying: "There is no substitute for leadership," ServiceNow chief customer officer Chris Bedi told Axios. "You have to be able to get up in front of your team and say, 'Here's how your roles are going to evolve in an AI-first world.'"

• “Organizations need to be operating in two modes with AI, Bedi said. "Mode one — which is largely what everyone's doing today — is incremental improvements to existing ways of working," he said.”

• "Mode two is harder. It's saying, 'If we were to assume the models are good enough, and AI was pervasive, how would we redesign these departments, these jobs, the organization, the enterprise, from scratch?' It's a much harder intellectual exercise."

• “The investments in mode one, though, will pay off as companies look to make more substantive changes to business processes down the road.”

  

Mode one, most companies are mulling through, especially im small experiments. Mode two is harder. Requires imagination and initiative that often have more costs than rewards in these early days. Especially since the AI technologies are barely ready, and getting better exponentially with new innovations. Again, as Axios summarizes:

“Yes, but: Being a pacesetter today doesn't have to mean developing your own AI models or redesigning business processes from scratch.”

• “Companies can gain a boost by fully making use of investments that existing software makers have already made in AI — folks like Salesforce, Microsoft, Google and Adobe.”

• "The majority of the pacesetters are using AI that's inbuilt in tech platforms," Bedi said.”

• "AI is inevitable. It is one of those moments and tech transformations. It's a 'when', not an 'if.'"

There is palpable anticipation of future rewards though in this AI Tech Wave, up and down the stacks:

“Between the lines: While acknowledging there is fear among workers that AI could replace their jobs, Bedi said the right response is clarity, not downplaying the technology.”

• "It's actually I think something the workforce is hungry for," Bedi said. "They all read the headlines everywhere. It can create anxiety actually, if the organization's not moving on AI because [workers] could feel like they're falling behind compared to maybe some of their friends that are at another company."

Thought this latest exercise in weighing the pros and cons this early in the AI Tech Wave is worth reviewing. The mind and the media generally focuses on the cons than the pros.

Especially after seeing another broad example of the frailty of existing technology systems the past few days with the CrowdStrike/Microsoft events. A reminder that the AI glass is more than half full in the long term is always helpful. Stay tuned.

(NOTE: The discussions here are for information purposes only, and not meant as investment advice at any time. Thanks for joining us here)