According to a recent report by O’Reilly, generative AI, driven by technologies like OpenAI’s GPT models and ChatGPT, is experiencing unprecedented levels of adoption. The report, titled “2023 Generative AI in the Enterprise,” reveals that two-thirds of surveyed respondents are already utilizing generative AI, marking an exceptionally rapid adoption rate. The report highlights the remarkable speed at which generative AI, including the relatively young ChatGPT, has been integrated into various enterprises.
Despite the surge in adoption, the report identifies challenges that are impeding the widespread implementation of generative AI. Key concerns include the difficulty in identifying practical business use cases and lingering legal uncertainties. The report emphasizes that poorly conceived and implemented AI solutions could have detrimental effects, and questions surrounding legal issues, such as copyright ownership of AI-generated output, remain unanswered.
Additionally, company culture is noted as a potential barrier to AI adoption, with O’Reilly suggesting that overlooking the necessity for AI integration is akin to not identifying suitable business use cases. The high cost and complexity of building infrastructure for generative AI are also cited as significant concerns in the report.
The survey, conducted from September 14 2023 to September 23 2023, gathered a substantial number of responses, with 4,782 total participants and 2,857 providing complete answers. The majority of respondents, comprising 74%, were from North America or Europe. The findings underscore the rapid ascent of generative AI in the business landscape while highlighting the challenges that need to be addressed for its continued growth and integration.
In this article, you will learn about six key takeaways from O’Reilly’s generative AI in the enterprise survey.
6 Key Takeaways From O’Reilly’s Generative AI In The Enterprise Survey
Here are six key takeaways from O’ Reilly’s generative AI in the enterprise survey.
- Majority of Users Consider Generative AI As A Main Driver for their Productivity
According to the O’Reilly survey, 54% of AI users expect AI’s biggest benefit will be greater productivity. What’s most surprising is the fact that only 4% pointed to lower head counts. This is contrary to a traditional belief that AI will take millions of jobs. The productivity boost from the use of AI tools should not come as a surprise. It can free your team up from mundane and repetitive tasks and do the heavy lifting for you. As a result, you can allocate those resources to work more on value centric tasks that can drive business value.
- 3 Out of 4 People Are Using AI For Programming
The survey further shows that 77% of respondents use AI as an aid in programming. This was also unexpected as most people think of AI tools as assistants and handling basic tasks such as responding to customer queries and providing personalized recommendations. It is now being used for advanced applications such as writing code and generating content. AI is also finding new use cases in customer relationship management, fraud detection and fraud detection.
- AI Programming and Data Analysis Is The Skills To Acquire
With 77% of businesses using generative AI for programming, the demand for AI programmers is skyrocketing. In fact, 66% of survey respondents said that AI programming is the most important skill they are looking for. Data analysis came at second place with 59% survey respondents voting in its favor. Prompt engineering is also quickly gaining traction along with leadership roles for AI.
- AI Adoption Are In Early Stages
Gartner did a study a few months back which showed that businesses who have adopted generative AI are not only growing but also moving to the later stages of implementation. The O’Reilly study revealed some conflicting facts. According to an O’Reilly survey, Only 18% of businesses have put generative AI in production. Moreover, 26% have been working with AI for less than 12 months.
That is understandable because tools like ChatGPT which brought generative to fame are only one year old. These numbers will change as the time passes with more and more businesses putting generative AI into production. Expect businesses who have not yet jumped on the AI train, join in on the action soon.
- Open Source Models Are Slowly Growing In Popularity
Businesses want more control, flexibility and security when it comes to generative AI adoption. Sadly, proprietary generative AI solutions don’t provide you this liberty. That is why businesses have to look towards open source solutions. This is increasing the demand for open source generative AI models and tools. In fact, 16% of respondents working with AI were using open-source models. Expect this number to jump even further in the future as businesses demand more control over these models and prioritizes flexibility over other factors.
- Security, Privacy, Bias and Hallucinations Are The Biggest Challenges
No technology is perfect and AI is no different. From hallucinations to bias, security and privacy concerns to unexpected outcomes, the list can go on and on. In fact, there are some of the reasons why some businesses are not moving ahead with generative AI implementation. These tools can sometimes make stuff up and can be biased. Cybercriminals can easily compromise those language models and steal sensitive business data. That is why businesses should invest in DDoS protection services. It is imperative for businesses to iron out these issues by feeding structured high-quality data for training those models and implementing security guardrails to prevent data breaches. Make sure that the data is private and is not accessible to anyone. Additionally, test the model extensively to ensure that it does not deliver unexpected outcomes.
What did you learn from O’Reilly’s generative AI for enterprise survey? Share it with us in the comments section below.