11 hours ago
Navigating The AI Landscape: Practical Guidance For Business Leaders
Vimarsh Puneet, Director, Product Management, Enterprise AI, Cisco.
I feel that things are moving faster than ever due to AI, but historically, each technological advancement has similarly triggered rapid and significant shifts. When the cloud era emerged, there was a rush to build websites. Today, websites are integral to our daily information consumption. Likewise, during the rise of smartphones, everyone was focused on app development, and now these apps have become central to everyday tasks and interactions.
Organizations today find themselves at a similar pivotal moment. AI advancements are moving so fast that technology is getting outdated in six months, but at the same time, making previously unimaginable possibilities slowly more attainable. To fully leverage these opportunities, it's important to reconsider and reimagine what could be done. I think we have all the ingredients to do that because the cost of intelligence is rapidly decreasing, driven by three key factors.
The Key Factors
First, we now have architectures, such as large language models (LLMs), capable of processing various input types, including audio, text, video and images, meaning improvements in software and hardware benefit everyone. Second, increasing data and computational resources significantly enhances AI performance, as demonstrated by the advancements from GPT-2 to GPT-4 to O3. Third, providing models with additional computational power and allowing them more time for extended processing can substantially improve their effectiveness.
Reflecting further, we noted AI's imminence: The technology stack, including compute, networks, data distribution and talent, is fully ready, positioning us for rapid adoption. Compared to earlier transitions like the cloud and mobile, AI's growth is accelerating significantly, supported by broad digital awareness, platforms such as YouTube and Reddit and near-universal internet connectivity.
Start With The Basic Principles
My recommendation is to begin with first principles by thoroughly understanding the core job your customer needs to accomplish.
Consider the example of search: The fundamental need has always been to find answers, gain deeper insights or perform comparisons. Historically, Google has dominated as the primary platform for users seeking information. However, user behavior is evolving, with many increasingly turning to innovative AI-powered tools like Perplexity, ChatGPT and Anthropic. My own experience reflects this shift: Previously, when I needed to research and compare electronics or learn about new technologies, my journey started with a Google search, followed by extensive reading through multiple webpages to reach a final decision. Now, I can directly ask an AI agent to provide precise, tailored information to achieve my desired outcome quickly and efficiently.
Clayton Christensen's "Jobs to be Done" framework remains fundamental for every business leader. As leaders, we must regularly revisit and validate the "jobs" our products or services are "hired" to perform.
Another essential perspective for understanding and advancing your business today involves leveraging your data. Yes, data is still king. In early 2024, Reddit signed a $60 million annual deal allowing Google to train its AI models on Reddit's user-generated content. Shortly after, Reddit partnered with OpenAI, granting access to Reddit's data API to enhance AI models like ChatGPT. These partnerships grew Reddit's revenue from $12.3 million to $81.6 million annually.
A notable example in the healthcare industry is Sanofi's partnership with OpenAI and Formation Bio, announced in May 2024. This collaboration aims to accelerate drug development by leveraging AI models trained on Sanofi's proprietary data, marking a significant step toward AI-driven pharmaceutical innovation.
The AI-Driven Future
Finally, I believe we should approach the technological revolution not with fear of job loss but with excitement about the opportunities it creates. Imagine a world where every child has access to personalized, one-on-one tutoring, healthcare issues are diagnosed swiftly and accurately and network problems are resolved more efficiently than ever before. Those who strategically embrace AI's transformative capabilities and remain closely aligned with customer needs will undoubtedly position themselves as leaders in their respective fields. By integrating innovation, customer-centricity and ethical data practices, businesses can unlock sustainable growth and lasting competitive advantages in the AI-driven future.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
