Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been steadily permeating our lives, from powering our smartphones to driving autonomous vehicles, and even enhancing retail experiences.
However, a new wave of AI, known as generative AI, is set to revolutionize the digital landscape even further. Generative AI, with applications like ChatGPT Copilot and Stable Diffusion, is capturing the imagination of people worldwide due to its broad utility and ability to perform a wide range of tasks.
The economic potential of generative AI and its impact on various industries.
The Rise of Generative AI: Generative AI is a step-change evolution within deep learning. Unlike previous deep learning models, generative AI can process extremely large and varied sets of unstructured data and perform more than one task. It can classify, edit, summarize, answer questions, and draft new content, among other tasks.
The speed at which generative AI technology is developing is impressive. For instance, OpenAI released a new large language model, GPT-4, a real game-changer, with markedly improved capabilities, demonstrating the rapid advancement of this technology.
The Economic Impact: According to research by McKinsey, generative AI alone could add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually across 63 use cases. This would increase the impact of all artificial intelligence by 15 to 40 percent.
The potential value of generative AI is spread across various areas, with about 75 percent of the value deliverable across four business areas, that are the main core of many businesses: Customer operations, marketing and sales, software engineering, and R&D.
Industry Transformation: Generative AI is set to have a significant impact across all industry sectors. Industries such as banking, high tech, and life sciences could see the biggest impact as a percentage of their revenues from generative AI.
For example, in the banking industry, the technology could deliver value equal to an additional $200 billion to $340 billion annually if the use cases were fully implemented.
Changing the Anatomy of Work: Generative AI has the potential to change the anatomy of work, augmenting the capabilities of individual workers by automating some of their individual activities.
Current generative AI and other technologies have the potential to automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today. This means that employees can focus more on strategic and creative tasks, while routine tasks are handled by AI.
Boosting Productivity: Generative AI could enable labor productivity growth of 0.1 to 0.6 percent annually through 2040, depending on the rate of technology adoption and redeployment of worker time into other activities.
This could lead to significant economic growth and support a more sustainable, inclusive world.
How generative AI can deliver value across these the four more impacted business areas.
Customer Operations: Generative AI can revolutionize customer operations by automating customer service interactions, personalizing customer experiences, and predicting customer behavior.
For instance, AI chatbots can handle routine customer queries, freeing up human agents to handle more complex issues. This not only improves efficiency but also enhances customer satisfaction by providing instant responses. Furthermore, generative AI can analyze customer data to predict future behavior, enabling businesses to tailor their services to individual customer needs.
Marketing and Sales: In the realm of marketing and sales, generative AI can generate creative content for marketing campaigns, personalize email marketing, and even predict sales trends.
For example, AI can create personalized emails or advertisements based on a customer’s past behavior and preferences, leading to more effective marketing campaigns. Additionally, generative AI can analyze sales data to predict future trends, helping businesses to plan their sales strategies more effectively.
Software Engineering: Generative AI is a game-changer in software engineering. It can automate parts of the coding process, detect bugs, and even suggest improvements in the code.
For instance, OpenAI’s Codex, the model behind GitHub’s Copilot, can suggest lines of code as a developer types, effectively acting as a pair programmer. This can significantly speed up the software development process and reduce the likelihood of errors.
Research and Development (R&D): In R&D, generative AI can accelerate the research process, generate new ideas, and even predict the outcome of experiments.
For example, in drug discovery, generative AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify potential drug candidates much faster than traditional methods. This can significantly speed up the drug discovery process and potentially lead to the development of new treatments
So, Generative AI is more than just a technological advancement; it’s a game-changer that is set to revolutionize various industries, transform the nature of work, and boost economic growth. As we continue to explore and harness the potential of generative AI, we are embarking on a journey towards a more efficient, productive, and innovative future.
References:
McKinsey & Company. (2023). The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier#industry-impacts
McKinsey Global Institute. (2017). A future that works: Automation, employment, and productivity. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/digital-disruption/harnessing-automation-for-a-future-that-works