Generative AI holds much promise for businesses

By Rachana Shanbhogue

When Chatgpt was first launched at the end of 2022 it quickly became a sensation. Within two months 100m users were posing all sorts of entertaining queries (“Write me a rap song using references to SpongeBob SquarePants”). The number of people Googling “artificial intelligence” surged, and the mania set off investors’ enthusiasm for all manner of AI projects. Yet the real promise, these investors and entrepreneurs are betting, lies with its use in business. Here, too, it could be more rapidly adopted than past innovations. But that does not mean it will happen overnight.

The potential is exciting. According to McKinsey, a consultancy, three-quarters of the business uses of generative ai will fall into four areas: customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and research and development. Navigating a complex tax code or summarising a legal document could become a breeze. Type in the right prompt and a first draft of marketing copy could magically appear. Already many coders rely on Copilot, a coding tool from Microsoft, to help them write software. Studies show that professional workers with below-average performance tend to experience the most benefit from using generative ai, promising a big increase in output for firms.