Organizations are seeing value from their early Generative AI forays and those successes are driving more investment. According to a new Deloitte report, two-thirds of the organizations surveyed (67%) said they are increasing investments in Generative AI because they have seen strong value to date. A head of AI strategy and governance in the banking industry has seen this first-hand: “Before GenAI, most senior leaders only had a vague understanding of what AI was or what it can do. Now, they have AI at their fingertips, and it has opened their eyes to the possibilities. We have applied for additional resources.”
As in the prior quarterly surveys, improved efficiency and productivity and cost reduction continue to be the most common benefits sought from Generative AI initiatives. Those benefits were cited by 42% of wave three respondents as their single, most important benefit achieved to date.
However, for most wave three respondents (the other 58%), the top benefit achieved through the new technology is something other than efficiency, productivity or cost reduction. This includes increased innovation (12%), improved products and services (10%), and enhanced customer relationships (9%). The diversity of possible sources of value from Generative AI initiatives is exciting to many leaders and shows the potential and versatility of this new technology.
For the authors, this distribution could mean a couple of different things: “Organizations may be seeking efficiency, productivity and cost reduction, but aren’t seeing it materialize yet; they may be getting unexpected value from less tangible areas; or they may be prioritizing these other types of value. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to employing Generative AI, and there is a wide range of benefits that could be gained. It is important for organizations to be clear about what kind of value they are seeking before embarking on any Generative AI initiatives—start with value first”.
According to the survey respondents, three of the top four barriers to successful development and deployment of Generative AI tools and applications are:
To help build trust and ensure the responsible use of Generative AI-powered tools and applications, the report found that organizations are generally working to establish new guardrails, educate their workforces, conduct assessments, and build oversight capabilities.
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Source: Deloitte