Can Businesses Afford to Ignore Generative AI as a Fad?
Insight: The future is here.
When I was evaluating cloud for business and technology adoption for a large Fortune 100 business, one of the executive decision-makers in the meeting was less enthused about cloud tech. He could not see how it could be profitably monetized and wanted to wait for others in the market to show the way before the company adopted it. Unfortunately, they missed a golden opportunity to lead.
This is to illustrate that technology can accelerate faster than imagined and cannot be seen only through a single lens, without considering the context of how the rest of the environment will change. You need to bet on that change faster than others.
It is also a cautionary tale for leaders sitting on the fence about generative AI — the least you should do is ensure your strategy considers the massive shift on the way.
Because the impact of generative isn’t about how the next version of GPT (3/4) is mind-boggling.
This is about how generative AI is an inflection point that will change how we build and consume technology to solve problems in play today.
Non-generative AI ways of work will be slowly replaced by generative AI ways of work including tools — the question is by when, which tools, and by whom?
For instance, I wrote a detailed instance of how shopping may transform as an illustrative idea of how simple a shopping experience can become.
Consider how mobile tech networks and software, including a relatively obscure software feature called “over-the-air-activation,” accepted as a given today, changed how we work. It changed how user interfaces are built for users to practically do everything they need on their phone, anytime, and anywhere they have a connection.
For any business reviewing what generative AI’s impact will be, the immediate questions to consider are:
What is our generative AI strategy in the short term and for the next decade? What are the skillsets we will need to prepare for this change?
What are the tradeoffs from going too slow or too fast on adopting this technology? What is the opportunity cost for not adopting it?
How will our business model be impacted? How and when do we monetize?
Will this improve our customer experience, product experience, customer acquisition, retention, and LTV?
Will this make our current operational costs lower in the short term and long term?
This change is also domain-independent and will impact functional areas across the board.
Needless to say, it will also transform the roles and skills needed for the future such as augmented decision-making using AI.
Are you ready?
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Jayshree, You have a wealth of knowledge. D