McKinsey Global Survey: GenAI Adoption Yields Tangible Value

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TheGen.AI News

GenAI Revolution Gains Focus, Says Infosys Chairman Nilekani

Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani stated that two years into the Generative AI (GenAI) revolution, a clearer picture is emerging from the initial chaos. He noted that the early panic over AI leading to human extinction, particularly concerns about artificial general intelligence (AGI), has subsided.

In a letter to shareholders in the latest annual report, Nilekani compared GenAI to other transformative technologies like electricity, nuclear energy, the internet, and fire, emphasizing its immense potential for positive impact when developed responsibly. He criticized those calling for heavy AI regulation as protectionists aiming to restrict GenAI benefits to a select few companies and investors. 

Nilekani highlighted that AI's true potential lies in integrating various models and tools to achieve optimal solutions, dismissing the idea of a single dominant AI model. He pointed out the continuous advancements in large language models driven by numerous innovators.

To stay competitive, businesses must "future-proof" their AI infrastructure to avoid becoming obsolete. Nilekani also distinguished between enterprise and consumer AI. He predicted that consumer AI, much like smartphones revolutionized everyday life, will be designed to enhance usability, convenience, and accessibility, thereby making life easier and more productive for millions.

McKinsey Global Survey: GenAI Adoption Yields Tangible Value

Investments in Generative AI (GenAI) are starting to yield value for organizations, according to a new global survey by McKinsey, a leading management consultancy firm. While 2023 focused on investing in GenAI initiatives, 2024 is set to be about harnessing business value from this technology. Since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT, 65% of organizations are now regularly using AI, nearly double the percentage from last year's survey, as per the McKinsey report.

The report indicates that organizations are employing AI in more areas of their business, with over half of respondents stating their organizations have adopted AI in two or more business functions. The most common GenAI use cases are in marketing and sales, content support for marketing strategies, and professional services.

Organizations have achieved significant cost reductions in HR and revenue increases in supply chain and inventory management through GenAI use. Alex Singla, senior partner and global co-leader of QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, remarked, "In 2024, GenAI is no longer a novelty. The technology's potential is now unquestioned. Although most organizations are still in the early stages of their GenAI journeys, we are starting to understand what works and what doesn't in implementing and generating value with the technology."

The report analyzed GenAI adoption across industries and found that organizations are equally likely to invest more than 5% of their digital budgets in GenAI as they are in analytical AI. Most respondents (67%) anticipate increased investments in AI initiatives over the next three years.

McKinsey classifies companies using generative AI into three categories based on their implementation strategies: "takers" who use off-the-shelf AI tools, "shapers" who customize publicly available AI tools, and "makers" who develop their own AI models from scratch. The findings reveal that roughly half of the organizations use pre-built AI tools, while the other half use significantly customized or built-from-scratch AI tools. McKinsey predicts future trends will include more hybrid ecosystems that combine off-the-shelf, proprietary, and open-source AI models.

Hitachi and Microsoft Forge Multi-Billion Dollar Partnership to Drive GenAI Innovation

Hitachi, Ltd. and Microsoft Corporation have announced a planned multi-billion dollar partnership over the next three years aimed at accelerating social innovation through generative AI. This strategic alliance will boost Hitachi’s Lumada business, with projected revenue of 2.65 trillion yen (18.9 billion USD) in FY2024, and enhance operational efficiency and productivity for Hitachi Group's 270,000 employees.

Hitachi plans to integrate Microsoft Cloud, Azure OpenAI Service, Dynamics 365, Copilot for Microsoft 365, and GitHub Copilot into Lumada solutions to create innovative solutions for the energy, mobility, and other industries, aiming for better business and societal outcomes. Additionally, both companies will collaborate on projects to address key business challenges such as strengthening cloud services, enhancing security, and reducing the environmental impact of data centers, which is increasingly important with the rise of generative AI.

Keiji Kojima, President and CEO of Hitachi, stated that the company has been leveraging AI across the Hitachi Group to improve productivity and plans to invest 300 billion yen (2.1 billion USD) in generative AI to seize new growth opportunities in FY2024. Hitachi and Microsoft have already collaborated on several projects, including next-generation digital solutions for manufacturing and logistics, and a field-extended metaverse running on Microsoft Teams. Under the new agreement, Kojima expressed excitement about further accelerating social innovation in areas like energy and mobility, enhancing frontline worker productivity, and addressing customer and societal challenges to contribute to a more sustainable future.

TheOpen.AI News

GitHub Accelerator Ignites Open Source AI Revolution, Empowering Startups

GitHub has officially launched its 2024 Accelerator program, designed to support and promote open source projects that are transforming the technology landscape. The program offers financial backing, mentorship, and community-building opportunities, generating considerable excitement among developers and enterprises.

Stormy Peters, GitHub's VP of Communities, highlighted the significance of the initiative in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. "The GitHub Accelerator program empowers developers to bring their innovative ideas to life," she said. "We provide not only funding but also the resources and network necessary to scale these projects globally."

This year's cohort features a diverse array of projects, including enterprise data solutions and cutting-edge AI tools. Among the standout participants are Unsloth from the 2024 cohort and Formbricks from the 2023 cohort, both of which have made significant progress in their fields.

Unsloth, a notable participant in the 2024 program, aims to improve the efficiency of AI model fine-tuning. Co-founders Daniel Han and Michael Han have developed an open source package that drastically reduces the time and memory needed for fine-tuning language models.

"We're trying to make fine-tuning extremely easy for people," Daniel Han told VentureBeat. "Our open source package, launched last December, uses 70% less memory and is twice as fast as existing solutions, with no loss of accuracy."

Michael Han emphasized the strategic advantages of the GitHub Accelerator program. "When we launched our package, we recognized its immense potential for the broader AI community. The GitHub Accelerator gives us the platform to expand our reach and enhance our technology."

OSI Leads Initiative to Establish Universal Definition for Open Source AI

There is currently no standard definition for open source AI. One nonprofit, the Open Source Initiative (OSI), is working to develop a universal definition to ensure transparency and accessibility of AI technologies. OSI aims to establish a globally accepted standard similar to the Open Source Definition for software.

“AI is different from regular software and forces all stakeholders to review how the Open Source principles apply to this space,” said Stefano Maffulli, OSI’s executive director. “OSI believes that everyone deserves to maintain agency and control over the technology. We also recognize that markets thrive when clear definitions promote transparency, collaboration, and permissionless innovation.”

Prominent AI figures like Yann LeCun advocate for an open source future for AI, but the lack of a clear definition leaves the concept of what constitutes truly open AI systems open to debate. Major tech companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Meta have released open source AI models like Phi-3, Gemma, and Llama 3, respectively. However, while these companies have shared the model weights and underlying code, they have not always released the training data.

Seth Dobrin, founder and CEO of Qantm AI and former chief AI officer of IBM, referred to this as pseudo-open source on a recent AI Business Podcast episode. Julia Ferraioli, an Amazon machine learning strategist, stated at an industry event in February that simply being free does not make a system open.

OSI seeks to clarify what truly defines open source AI. Over the past two years, the nonprofit has conducted research with relevant stakeholders to create clear guidelines. With what it describes as “a massive body of work,” OSI is now presenting its findings in a series of global workshops before finalizing the potential definition.

“After spending almost two years gathering voices from all over the world to identify the principles of Open Source suitable for AI systems, we’re embarking on a worldwide roadshow to refine and validate the release candidate version of the open source AI definition,” said Maffulli.

TheClosed.AI News

OpenAI Addresses ChatGPT Downtime, Promises Fix Soon

ChatGPT, the free AI chatbot that gained massive popularity since its 2022 launch, is currently down or not functioning for many users. Some report that the website is inaccessible, while others are unable to generate responses.

When we attempted to use the service on a desktop, the chatbot did not allow prompt input and displayed a red "Internal Server Error" message. Similar results were observed when using the chatbot on an iPhone.

According to Downdetector, which monitors the status of various online services, the outage began around 1 PM IST. OpenAI's status page confirms that ChatGPT is unavailable for some users and that they are investigating the issue. OpenAI's support page now states that the root cause has been identified and that they are working on a fix, though no timeline has been provided for when the service will be restored.

For those unfamiliar, ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that accepts text and image inputs, allowing users to ask any questions. Following its late 2022 launch, the chatbot quickly surged in popularity, reaching over 100 million users within two months. This is the second downtime for ChatGPT this year; on February 14, the service experienced a significant outage worldwide from 8:00 PM IST to around 10:30 PM IST.

OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Edu for Enhanced University Operations

OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Edu, a specialized AI version tailored for universities to responsibly integrate AI into academic and campus operations.

Powered by GPT-4, ChatGPT Edu offers advanced capabilities like data analysis, web browsing, and document summarization, alongside robust security and privacy measures.

This version allows universities to create custom ChatGPT models trained on their specific data and knowledge, which can be easily shared within their institutions. This facilitates seamless integration and deployment of AI tools across various departments, courses, and research projects.

Supporting over 50 languages with enhanced quality and speed, ChatGPT Edu can be tailored to serve diverse student populations and research communities. Universities can utilize its features to develop language-specific models for courses, tutoring, and international collaborations.

In addition to academic uses, ChatGPT Edu can be customized for campus operations such as student services, facilities management, and alumni relations. Universities can develop models to handle inquiries, provide information, and streamline administrative tasks.

ChatGPT Edu includes enterprise-level security features and administrative controls, such as group permissions, single sign-on (SSO), SCIM, and model management, ensuring universities can manage access and permissions.

Sam Altman Invests in 400+ Companies, Amasses $2.8 Billion

Sam Altman and his venture funds have reportedly invested in over 400 companies. The Wall Street Journal highlighted Altman as one of Silicon Valley's most prolific individual investors, with holdings worth at least $2.8 billion as of early this year.

Although Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, valued at $86 billion, he does not own a stake in the company and earns an annual salary of about $65,000. However, his net worth surpassed $2 billion this year, largely due to his extensive investment portfolio, which includes major companies like Reddit and Stripe, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The Journal reported that Altman has also utilized a debt line from his longtime personal bank, JPMorgan, enabling him to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in private startups. Notably, several startups in which Altman has invested also conduct business with OpenAI, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest for the AI company's CEO.

For instance, after Reddit announced a partnership with OpenAI, its stock surged by over 10%, increasing Altman's personal stake by $69 million. OpenAI noted in a blog post that the partnership was led by the company's chief operating officer and approved by its independent board of directors.

Altman's representatives did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment outside regular working hours. When contacted by The Journal, a spokesperson for Altman declined to comment on potential conflicts of interest between OpenAI and his personal investments. Bret Taylor, chairman of OpenAI's board, stated that Altman has "consistently followed policies and been transparent about his investments."

"Sam is fully focused on his role as CEO. We carefully manage any potential conflicts and always prioritize OpenAI and our mission," Taylor said.

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