AI Times They Are A Changing

The excitement around AI is giving way to a more strategic approach. According to Lucidworks recent generative AI study, companies are re-evaluating costs, security, and accuracy, signalling a maturing phase for AI investments. Practical implementations and robust governance will be key to unlocking AI's full potential.

The survey insights are:

• Conducted among 1,000 companies across 14 industries.
• 63% plan to increase AI spending in 2024, down from 93% in 2023.
• 36% will maintain current AI spending levels, up from 6% last year.

Challenges noted:

• Financial returns on AI projects have been underwhelming.
• Only 25% of planned AI investments have been fully implemented.
• Significant increase in AI project costs and accuracy concerns.

Cost and model preferences:

• 49% use commercial LLMs like Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT.
• 30% use a mix of commercial and open-source models.
• Shift towards open-source models expected due to performance gains and cost benefits.

Key considerations:

• Balancing costs with security, accuracy, and responsible data acquisition is crucial.
• Cutting corners in these areas can undermine AI effectiveness.

Successful Initiatives:

• Best AI projects focus on governance and cost reduction.
• Qualitative applications (FAQs, HR support) are the most successful.
• Quantitative applications (optimisation, financial support) face more challenges.

Governance and Risk Management:

• AI governance is critical to manage risks and ensure compliance with regulations like the EU AI Act.

Generative AI is similar to RPA (robotic process automation) in its early adoption, whose initial projects often didn't demonstrate the predicted ROI of the project. And like the automation journey, organisations are realising that a more mature AI COE (centre of excellence) approach will improve results.

You can download the report here .

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