The advent of tools like ChatGPT has significantly intensified the hype around AI, marking a pivotal moment for AI’s entry into the mainstream. Consequently, when discussing AI nowadays, it’s common to reference ChatGPT and other similar tools that have emerged. This sudden surge in attention has made everyone eager to share their thoughts, resulting in the term Generative AI (GenAI) being frequently overused and misapplied, which only adds to the confusion. 

What is Generative AI and Isn’t?

Before diving into the main topic, it’s important to clarify widespread misconceptions surrounding GenAI. What exactly is GenAI, and what is not? Many companies have been leveraging AI since the early 2000s, driven by big data, enhanced machine learning, deep learning for predictive analytics, scenario planning, and data analytics. GenAI stands apart. It denotes a subset of AI technologies capable of generating new content that mirrors human-created work. Typically manifesting as text, video, images, or code, it closely resembles human output.

How can companies embrace GenAI now?

As GenAI technology swiftly evolves, the key question shifts from “if” to “how”. Companies need to make the choice between developing in-house or buying, assessing the required investment, addressing potential risks, and recruiting the right talent and developing talent within, all while considering the distinct needs of the company. With GenAI, I would lean to diving in now with the following actions: 

1. Dive in with organizational exploration and learning approach

2. Explore use cases with business-driven mindset

3. Find partners from your ecosystem to learn and co-innovate together 

4. Invest in sustainable technology foundation and get your proprietary data ready

5. Level up your responsible AI and compliance 

The future of GenAI as the ultimate user interface

Many assume that the capabilities of GenAI to generate diverse outputs could lead to significant productivity gains, to the extent that numerous job categories might be phased out in the coming years, replaced by artificial intelligence. However, I would argue that productivity gains are not the ultimate value of GenAI. Such gains, facilitated by tools like GenAI chatbots, may be easily replicated, and therefore not a source of differentiation. They are difficult to quantify in economic terms or captured as tangible benefits in a business case. For instance, a 30% improvement in process throughput does not necessarily translate into enhanced customer retention, product quality, reduced unplanned operational downtime, or better patient treatment outcomes. 

Speed does not equate to quality. Superior outcomes are defined by greater accuracy, reliability, responsibility, relevance, and reduced risk. These improvements are almost always aligned with the business context and strategic goals rooted in the organization’s mission.

The ability of GenAI to mimic human dialogue in interfacing with complex systems, data and technologic features has given us AI’s first true infliction point in broader adoption. GenAI serves as the ultimate user interface (UI) to various technology capabilities, including AI, ERP, CRM, Data Analytics, etc.

In the wake of the GenAI hype, numerous technology companies have positioned themselves as leaders in this field, highlighting their current offerings and future plans that incorporate GenAI. As a technology leader, I’ve attended several presentations and demos showcasing the GenAI strategies of these companies. Interestingly, most of the new GenAI features focus on making the user interfacing more human-like and intuitive, which isn’t surprising given that language processing is one of GenAI’s greatest strengths.

– O9 has significantly enhanced its industry-leading integrated planning platform by integrating GenAI capabilities. This includes a prompt feature that allows users to access trusted insights. By facilitating decision-making via natural language queries and conversational analytics, this solution speaks in the user’s preferred language and gain insights from already existing Digital Brain.

– SAP AI Copilot Joule offers users the ability to complete tasks using natural language and provides relevant help within the application itself. It enables users to navigate SAP solutions more efficiently, streamline tasks, receive smart insights on demand, and access customized content to get started on their work promptly.

– Salesforce EinsteinGPT brings personalized content to every Salesforce cloud using GenAI, thereby enhancing the productivity of all employees and improving every customer interaction. Salesforce’s GenAI CRM technology aims to provide AI-created content across every interaction within sales, service, marketing, commerce, and IT, on a massive scale. With Einstein GPT, Salesforce is set to redefine customer experiences through the power of generative AI.

As illustrated by these examples, there’s a noticeable enhancement in the utilization of existing digital and technological capabilities within current platforms through the use of GenAI as an intermediary. Envision a future where users interact with their systems in human-centric ways, rather than through the transactional, step-by-step processes that are common today. 

For instance, you could instruct your order fulfillment system with a command like: “Identify any orders from the past week that have not been fulfilled due to stock shortages. Provide a list of affected orders and suggest alternative fulfillment strategies, prioritizing as high urgency.” The system then executes all the necessary steps for you. Essentially, you are conversing with the system, and based on the results, responses, or recommendations, you can tailor your next steps accordingly.

GenAI’s sophisticated understanding of historical context from transactional data, next best action from predictive models, summarization capabilities, will bring a new era of hyper-efficiency in front and back office – taking business process autonomy to a new level. We are looking at a future where GenAI interfacing with technology ecosystems of the future for business agility enabling business transformation journeys. It is, quite frankly, on another level compared to some organizations that have demonstrated the ability to pivot customer journeys on the fly for differentiation.

In conclusion, the value of GenAI extends far beyond mere productivity enhancements; it brings a new era of business transformation where human-like interactions with technology redefine efficiency, decision-making, and strategic agility. As companies navigate the complexities of implementing GenAI, the focus should not just be on the immediate gains but on the long-term potential to revolutionize how we work, think, and innovate within our industries. The journey towards fully embracing GenAI is not without its challenges, but the promise it holds for creating more intuitive, responsive, and intelligent business ecosystems is undeniably compelling.