Advertisements label AI as the revolutionary force destined to transform workplaces. Predictions regarding the shift towards achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), where machines surpass human capabilities have been made for years, and tech giants including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft continue to heavily invest in the development and marketing of AI. But is AI and, in particular, generative AI, being used to achieve its so-called revolutionary potential?
Investment and Growth of the AI Industry
While walking into a conversation in Silicon Valley may have you convinced that AI will reshape the global economy, and investors – who have substantially increased the market value of the big five tech firms over the past year, seem to agree with this sentiment, the growth that the big five would need to achieve to justify this market value is not insignificant, nor will it be realized overnight. According to the Stanford AI Index, global corporate investment in AI has increased from USD 14.57 billion in 2013 to USD 189 billion in 2023 – a whopping increase of thirteen times the investment in just ten years. For perspective, Meta Platforms derived approximately USD 134 billion in revenue in 2023. That’s USD 55 billion less than what was invested in AI in 2023.
Nonetheless, at least in the short term, the sales revenue that is predicted to be derived from AI-related business this year remains low in comparison to the high cloud and infrastructure investment costs incurred by tech giants and smaller entrants alike. So, what can we derive from what seems to be a relatively slow uptake of AI technologies beyond the tech mecca’s of the world?
According to reputable sources, such as the Stanford AI Index and 2023 McKinsey “The state of AI in 2023” reports, despite the plethora of benefits of AI adoption, with the never-ending hype about the impact of AI, global AI adoption rates remain lower than expected. However, this does not necessarily mean AI will not live up to its expectations in the long term.
How is AI Performing?
According to the Stanford AI Index, AI has surpassed the performance of humans on several tasks, including visual reasoning, image classification and understanding of the English language. Notwithstanding AI’s impressive performance in respect of some benchmarks, as you may have already heard “AI will not replace humans completely”, and this – at least, at present, is true. The Stanford AI Index has demonstrated that humans continue to perform better than AI when it comes to complex cognitive tasks, such as visual common-sense planning and reasoning, as well as competition-level mathematics.
The Index further found that, while the use of AI without proper understanding or oversight can result in poorer performance, the glaringly obvious benefits of AI in the workplace are also important to consider – the use of AI could enable workers to finish tasks more efficiently, without diminishing the quality of their work product. On the contrary, AI enables workers to produce products of a better quality within a shorter period of time.
The Crucial Element of Human Trust
Despite the actual and possible positive outcomes associated with the use of AI in many industries, people and companies remain hesitant to implement AI to its fullest potential, for several reasons. As reported in an Ipsos survey, the number of people that believe AI will have a dramatic effect on their life in 3-5 years is on the rise, however, so is the rate of unease towards AI products. As reported from the survey, 52% of the US citizens surveyed felt more concerned about AI than excited about it, which is a marked increase from the 38% who’d said they felt this way, in the 2022 survey.
While companies and organizations, like the World Economic Forum, are attempting to alleviate AI governance concerns, only time will tell how the world reacts to the expansion of AI, and whether the substantial investment into AI will have an overall positive or negative effect.
