With all the hype and promise of AI, including synthetic market research I wrote about last week and new advances like “Agenic AI”, adoption in business is facing barriers and obstacles.
Deloitte published their latest State of Generative AI report last month, including this headline takeaway:
“We see that most companies are transforming at the speed of organizational change, not at the speed of technology.”
This parallels Gartner’s recent announcement that GenAI had “passed the Peak of Inflated Expectations” in its eponymous Hype Cycle, moving toward the “Trough of Disillusionment.” They advised companies to “focus on nontechnical AI considerations” like governance, risk ownership, data governance, and “low user acceptance” to deliver on the promise of GenAI.
The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) recently found that only 40% of brands currently use GenAI for marketing communications. Polling member brands, 77% were concerned about IP and copyright issues and 66% saw legal risks as the biggest barrier to GenAI adoption.
It’ll take time and effort to navigate these “nontechnical” barriers and get beyond the lowest hanging fruit of GenAI in a meaningful way.
And also match what GenAI is capable of with what is most valuable to the business. I co-hosted a webinar last week with MoEngage and this observation from science fiction author Joanna Maciejewska came up:
“I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes.”
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
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