Gartner Reports ChatGPT Popularity Drives Generative AI Investments
A recent Gartner poll shows that the hype surrounding Open AI’s ChatGPT has motivated executives to invest more in generative AI, with 45% of executives responding that they would be increasing their investments in artificial intelligence. The frenzy for generative AI has been ongoing, with venture capital firms investing more than $1.7 billion in generative AI offerings over the last three years. The focus of investment has been mainly on AI software coding and AI-enabled drug discovery.
Frances Karamouzis, distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner, stated that organizations are currently working to determine how much cash would be needed to be invested in generative AI solutions, which products are worth the investment, and how to mitigate the risks of this emerging technology. Karamouzis also revealed that the poll indicated that 68% of executives believe that the benefits of generative AI outweigh its risks. However, Karamouzis believes that executives may begin to shift their perspective as investments deepen.
Investigative and Exploratory Phase
Seventy percent of respondents said they are currently in the investigative or exploration mode for generative AI adoption, while 15% were in piloting mode, and only 4% indicated production mode. This demonstrates that generative AI technology is in an early stage, and businesses are still investigating its potential and benefits. Organizations are beginning to experiment with generative AI for use cases such as media content improvement or code generation.
While these initiatives provide value-add to the businesses that use them, generative AI has much greater potential to support human and machine augmentations and autonomously execute business and IT processes. According to Gartner, AI use cases for generative AI adoption are accelerating, particularly in five areas: autonomous business, art, engineering, data science, and emergency planning.
Benefits Outweigh the Risks
Bern Elliot, a distinguished vice president analyst at Gartner, revealed that despite ongoing economic uncertainty, executives are focusing on generative AI investments, primarily for revenue growth (26%), customer experience and retention (38%), and only 17% for cost optimization. This is significant, as generative AI investments are perceived as offering new opportunities. Elliot further noted that the benefits of generative AI would outweigh the risks, with only 5% of respondents indicating that the risks outweigh the benefits.
Despite the widespread adoption of generative AI, it still poses risks, such as the possibility of deepfakes and copyright infringement. The report indicates the importance of recognizing the technology's potential risks and implementing safeguards against them.
