In a world driven by progress, innovation stands as the beacon of advancement, the catalyst for change. Yet, amidst the frenzy of groundbreaking ideas and revolutionary inventions, lies a stark reality: innovation without adoption is but a fleeting dream, a mirage of possibility that never materializes into tangible benefits.
Take ‘The Segway’, a marvel of self-balancing technology that remains confined to niche applications, its potential for personal mobility largely unrealized.
Likewise, ‘The Betamax’, a pioneer in home video recording, succumbed to the dominance of VHS, its superior technology overshadowed by marketing muscle.
Even one of human history’s most renowned and prolific inventors, Thomas Edison bent to the might of the adoption principle. Of his 1084 registered patents, (3rd in all-time patent ‘Hall of Fame’) only 31 of those patents resulted in products which were widely adopted commercially. Who’s to say the other 1053 inventions weren’t all amazing in some form but the reality is they were never found to be useful enough by society to be adopted.
Why do these innovations, despite their promise, fail to take root in the fabric of society?
The answer lies in the chasm between invention and adoption, a gap bridged by understanding, acceptance, and ultimately, integration into the lives of those it seeks to transform.
Academia has spent decades discussing the factors hindering innovation adoption.
One mayor player in this field, Professor Everett M. Rogers, a pioneer in diffusion of innovation theory, highlights the importance of relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability as key factors influencing the adoption of new ideas.
“The ultimate success of an innovation is determined by its adoption by the majority of potential users.”
A point beautifully brought to life in his famous adoption curve, that has passed into academia and business folklore as THE adoption success pathway 😊. (I for one have been unconsciously using his adoption curve for many a marketing strategy and product launch over the years)
Nowhere is this more demonstrable than in 2 areas the average global citizen takes for granted –
1. The humble telephone, initially met with scepticism, revolutionized communication. Its simplicity and compatibility with existing social structures paved the way for widespread adoption.
2. The World Wide Web, once a niche academic tool, transformed into an indispensable global network. Its accessibility and transformative potential fuelled its rapid adoption.
Innovation, like a seed, requires fertile ground to flourish. When nurtured with understanding, embraced with open arms, and integrated into the tapestry of everyday life, it blossoms into tangible progress, enriching our lives and shaping our world.
Which brings us to the topic de jour, Artificial Intelligence.
The world of artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly evolving, and one of the most exciting advancements is the emergence of Generative AI. This technology has the potential to revolutionize our lives in countless ways, and its impact is already being felt in a variety of industries.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI is a type of AI that can generate new, original content, such as images, text, music, and code. It does this by learning from a massive dataset of existing data and using that knowledge to create new outputs that are similar to the data it was trained on. And it is already having a significant impact on our lives in a number of ways. Here are a few examples:
· Personalized Recommendations: Generative AI is being used to provide personalized recommendations for products, movies, music, and more. This is done by analysing our past behavior and preferences to predict what we might like in the future.
· Content Creation: Generative AI is being used to create new content, such as news articles, blog posts, and marketing materials. This is freeing up human writers to focus on more creative and strategic tasks.
· Customer Service: Generative AI is being used to provide customer service chatbots that can answer questions, resolve issues, and even make recommendations. This is improving customer service and reducing costs.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Generative AI has the potential to make an even greater impact on our lives in the future. Here are just a few examples:
· Personalized Education: Generative AI can be used to create personalized learning experiences for students. This can include individualized instruction, adaptive assessments, and real-time feedback.
· Medical Diagnosis: Generative AI can be used to analyse medical images and data to help doctors diagnose diseases more quickly and accurately.
· Drug Discovery: Generative AI can be used to identify new drug candidates and predict their potential effectiveness.
How Companies Can Win the AI Race
In the race to harness the power of Generative AI, companies that can effectively utilize technology, data, and experience capabilities will stand out and deliver maximum benefit for their customers and society.
Here are some key strategies for companies to succeed:
· Invest in AI Infrastructure: Companies should invest in the necessary hardware and software infrastructure to support AI development and deployment.
· Gather and Utilize Data: Companies should gather and utilize high-quality data to train and improve their AI models.
· Build AI Expertise: Companies should build a team of AI experts with the skills and knowledge to develop and deploy AI solutions.
· Adopt an Ethical Approach: Companies should adopt an ethical approach to AI development and use, ensuring that their AI solutions are fair, unbiased, and transparent.
Ultimately Generative AI can impact every walk of life and deliver benefits across multiple industries:
Retail
Personalized product recommendations, dynamic pricing, automated marketing campaigns, virtual try-on experiences
CPG
Personalized product formulations, targeted marketing campaigns, AI-generated recipes, predictive inventory management.
Automotive
AI-designed vehicles, personalized driving experiences, predictive maintenance, autonomous driving technology.
Financial Services
Fraud detection, personalized financial advice, automated investment recommendations, chatbots for customer support.
Travel & Leisure
Personalized travel itineraries, AI-generated travel guides, virtual reality experiences, chatbots for customer service.
Manufacturing
AI-optimized production processes, predictive quality control, AI-designed products, automated supply chain management.
As with any disruptive technology, AI needs a champion to take up the cause, drive value and stay the course when the inevitable but dreaded “Trough of Disillusionment” kicks in*.
In the heart of every enterprise lies a hidden force, a silent guardian of innovation and technological prowess – the CIO organization. Often overlooked, yet wielding immense power, the CIO stands poised to revolutionize the enterprise landscape, embracing the transformative potential of AI and Generative AI.
Picture this: a world where AI seamlessly integrates into the fabric of your enterprise, automating mundane tasks, unlocking hidden insights, and propelling your business to new heights. This vision is not a distant dream but a tangible reality, waiting to be unleashed by the visionary CIO.
The CIO unit, with its deep understanding of technology, its strategic acumen, and its unwavering commitment to business value, is the ideal custodian of AI and Generative AI. Imagine the possibilities – AI-powered customer service that anticipates needs before they arise, Generative AI that crafts personalized marketing campaigns tailored to individual preferences, and data-driven insights that guide informed decision-making.
With the CIO at the helm, AI adoption will no longer be a fragmented endeavour but a unified, strategic initiative, seamlessly woven into the enterprise’s core processes. The CIO will champion a culture of innovation, fostering collaboration between AI experts and business leaders, ensuring that AI aligns with the enterprise’s overarching goals.
The time has come to empower the CIO, to harness their expertise, and to unleash the transformative power of AI. Let the CIO organization be the beacon of innovation, guiding enterprises into a future where AI and Generative AI are not just buzzwords but the driving force of business success.
Here are 5 key takeaways** that show how CIOs and their technology teams are helping their companies adopt AI:
1. CIOs are using LLMs to automate marketing tasks and improve efficiency. For example, Dig Security is using ChatGPT to write code, and Salesloft is using LLMs to generate sales emails.
2. CIOs are using vector databases to improve the accuracy and relevance of LLMs. Vector databases are a way of organizing information in a series of lists, each one sorted by a different attribute. This makes them perfect to use in conjunction with LLMs, as they can help to identify relevant information more quickly and easily.
3. CIOs are using fine-tuning to create custom LLMs that are tailored to their specific needs. Fine-tuning is the process of training an existing LLM on a new dataset of data. This can help to improve the accuracy of the LLM for a specific task or use case.
4. CIOs are working with AI-focused startups to develop and deploy LLMs. AI-focused startups like OpenAI and Anthropic are at the forefront of LLM development. CIOs are partnering with these startups to gain access to cutting-edge technology and expertise.
5. CIOs are investing in the infrastructure needed to support LLMs. LLMs are computationally intensive, and they require a lot of data storage and processing power. CIOs are investing in the infrastructure needed to support LLMs, such as high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud computing.
Conclusion
Generative AI is a powerful technology that has the potential to transform our lives in countless ways. Companies that can effectively utilize technology, data, and experience capabilities to develop and deploy responsible AI solutions will be well-positioned to “win” the AI race and deliver maximum benefit for their customers and society. As the technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative and groundbreaking applications that will make our lives easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable.
*Credit: Gartner Hype cycle
**Source: 5 ways to deploy your own large language model | CIO Maria Korolov
