The Future of Enterprise and Generative AI: Part 1

Part 1 of 3: Generative AI Overview

“AI” is everywhere — it’s buzzing on the news, in your client calls, at the dinner table — and for good reasons. AI technology has reached a critical milestone in 2023, with generative AI surpassing the capabilities of traditional AI models. Its accessibility is also noteworthy, with platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Bing Chat Enterprise, and Google’s Vertex AI allowing anyone to harness its power.

With the recent OpenAI DevDay announcements, this technological marvel is poised to revolutionize business models, entire industries, and even redefine the nature of work itself. Feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of it all? Fear not, as we’re here to guide you. In this blog series, we’ll provide a bird’s-eye view of the generative AI landscape, its potential impact on your business, and its applications in your marketing strategy.

To kick off our exploration, let’s delve into the very definition of generative AI.

What is generative AI?

Generative AI refers to a set of algorithms capable of generating seemingly novel content, often human-like in its responses, by learning from extensive training data.

AI is not a new topic. It’s been around almost as long as computers have. Traditionally, it refers to systems designed to respond to a specific set of inputs. These systems can learn from the information fed to them and make decisions or predictions based on that data. For example, your computer-controlled opponent in a digital chess game knows all the rules, and it simply responds to your moves based on pre-determined strategies.

Generative AI does all that and more. It is the next evolution of AI, as it can create based on the training data, as opposed to just responding. Beyond text-based content, generative AI is quickly improving at producing lifelike images, artwork, audio clips, and even videos.

What can generative AI do for businesses?

The possibilities are vast. It’s anticipated that, over time, generative AI will play a role in nearly every facet of business and work. Workplaces and internal operations will be transformed significantly as more people become familiar and adept at instructing AI models to perform tasks.

Let’s look at some examples of how generative AI is already assisting businesses:

• Enterprise sales: Generative AI-powered chat can help with developing personalized customer interactions. The sales team can more efficiently build customer relationships, increase conversion rates and improve ROI.
• Lead generation: Chat-enabled automation can manage the customer journey and qualify the sales pipeline. Conversational AI provides customers with a better experience while allowing reps to spend more time developing meaningful relationships.
• Personalization: Cater to the audience with hyper-personalized recommendations, tailored messaging, and real-time interactions across the customer journey. Deepen customer loyalty and increase brand affinity.
• SEO: Enhance website’s search engine optimization with content planned to win search engine rankings. Perform keyword research, generate metadata, and optimize content with AI enabled solutions like text and image generation.
• Business intelligence: Generative AI can process large amounts of data and unearth hidden patterns while also providing actionable insights for businesses to make informed decisions with an unprecedented pace and accuracy.
• Content creation: Generative AI programs can help businesses create content with text, image, and even audio capabilities in a short amount of time. For example, AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT can streamline content creation for social media.
• Process automation: Businesses can use generative AI to assist with mundane, repetitive tasks. It can run and automate email campaigns, analyze contact form submission, and route the information to specific sales or customer support teams.
• Product design: With generative AI’s image capability, designers can accelerate their process by generating quick mock-ups to use as a starting point and be fed additional ideation options.
• Customer service: Generative AI can also be used to interact directly with customers through an integrated live chat feature on a website. Chatbots can help with most general inquiries, such as tracking orders, hours of operations, or other frequently asked questions. Businesses can also personalize these interactions to fit each customer’s unique interaction.

What are the benefits of generative AI?

Generative AI is a massive asset in the workplace for both leaders and workers when used correctly and effectively. With skilled hands, it can transform your business.

Here are some key benefits of generative AI:

• Personalized marketing: Activating a customer data platform for tailored content in website personalization and marketing automation that can lead to higher ROI.
• Informed decision making: Better data analysis using predictive analytics at an incredible speed can drive every process at scale.
• Sales team empowerment: AI-enabled tools lead to more efficiency in the sales process, from top-of-the-funnel to post-purchase customer support.
• Cost savings: Much of the data analysis process can be automated leaving teams with more time for important decision making. Sales and marketing are also able to leverage tools in content creation or customer service to provide more efficient services.
• Increased efficiency: Generative AI systems can produce results in incredibly short periods of time compared to manual labor. With a well-managed system or team, you can easily work on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Faster personalization: Generative AI can analyze large amounts of data and generate insights that can inform decision-making. For example, a business could use generative AI to analyze customer data and generate personalized marketing campaigns that are more likely to resonate with individual customers.
• Task automation: Generative AI can be used to automate repetitive tasks, both saving time and allowing human resources to be utilized elsewhere. Some examples include preparing sales reports, drafting contract terms, or supporting internal operations.

What are the challenges of generative AI?

No technology is flawless, even for the most advanced generative AI models. Businesses are still learning how to best use AI — and how it’s affecting them.

Some challenges that generative AI presents to the workplace include:

• Privacy and security: A major concern with open-sourced AI-powered platforms is who has access to the information you feed them. Chatbots and other AI tools continually learn from the data given to them, from their creators or from users. Sensitive information once plugged in might have a chance of re-emerging in public through targeted inquiries.
• Bias and toxicity: Outputs from generative AI will only be as good as the data it is trained on. Language models are often trained from unfiltered corners of the Internet, where there is plenty of bias, false information, and toxic ideas.
• “Hallucination”: This is a term for when AI tools confidently provide seemingly convincing information but are entirely wrong. Hallucinations occur when generative AI models essentially “fill in” responses to queries when up-to-date information is lacking. This is exacerbated by a lack of sources and credits when answers are generated.
• Ethical considerations: The ethics of using AI are still in murky waters. Does a brand lose its credibility when AI tools generate and manage its content? And AI content may not accurately reflect the brand identity or be able to respond in the appropriate brand voice.

What is the future of generative AI?

Looking ahead, it’s certain that generative AI is here to stay.

Researchers predict that 30% of outbound marketing messages will be AI-generated by 2025, and up to 90% of online content will be synthetically generated by 2026.

Outside of the creative or business sphere, generative AI has many applications in health, science, sociology, or any field that requires machines to process endless amounts of data. These algorithms are not going anywhere, and it is best to learn to adapt and evolve with them, not against them.

Incorporate generative AI into your business strategy with Adcetera

While machines won’t replace humans anytime soon, the key is to work smarter by integrating generative AI into business strategies. When used correctly, it opens up unprecedented growth opportunities with efficiency and effectiveness.

If you’re curious about incorporating these AI capabilities into your workplace, contact Adcetera. We’re actively exploring safe and responsible ways to implement AI in sales and marketing technology for measurable results. Check out a glimpse of our approach to Artificial Intelligence.