Generative AI’s Future Will Be as the Ultimate Human Sidekick, Says Foundation Capital’s Iyengar

A Google survey found that approximately 40% of executives said adopting generative artificial intelligence (AI) is an urgent need. However, many of these same executives did not even know whether their companies were ready to adopt the technology. Sixty-two percent of executives said they do not think their companies have the AI skills needed for a successful deployment.

Alongside environmental responsibility, generative AI deployments must account for ethical and reputational risks associated with privacy concerns on the back end and disinformation concerns on the front end. It will be essential for any company considering generative AI to step into the space with both eyes open and to keep them open as it moves forward.

The “Generative AI Tracker®” examines how to balance generative AI’s potential to enhance human productivity with ongoing concerns about its labor and environmental impacts, potential bias and disinformation.

Around the Generative AI Space

Until the recent generative AI boom, gamers and video editors were more likely to recognize the name NVIDIA than the average individual. Stock price surges powered by the company’s association with generative AI through its graphics processing units (GPUs) made it a more household name. It has now surpassed longtime tech rival Intel in the stock market, with NVIDIA’s stock already up 160% in 2023.

NVIDIA may be the standout example of sudden success linked to having the right hardware at the right time. However, it is far from the only company in an ideal position to take advantage of the hardware it already produces.

For more on these and other stories, visit the Tracker’s Companies of Note section.

An Insider on Generative AI’s Future as the ‘Ultimate Sidekick’

Human imagination may be the only upper limit of generative AI as models become better and cheaper. Still, concerns about labor and environmental impacts, bias and disinformation continue to swirl around the technology.

To get the Insider POV, PYMNTS spoke with Vinay Iyengar, partner at Foundation Capital, to learn why generative AI will enhance rather than disrupt human productivity by automating “busy work” and serving as the ultimate assistant or thought partner in human endeavors.

Generative AI’s Potential to Disrupt

A survey of business leaders showed that 70% believe generative AI will have the most impact on marketing organizations, business operations and logistics. From the day OpenAI revealed ChatGPT, its chatbot interface for its existing large language model (LLM) GPT-3.5, speculation about how generative AI could replace all or parts of human jobs in this area has been rife.

However, generative AI has plenty of potential uses, from personalized customer experiences to risk assessment and fraud prevention. J.P. Morgan Chase has even claimed to be developing a chatbot designed to give investment advice. In healthcare, Google is adding image analysis to its medical LLM, Med-PaLM 2, marketing its potential to assist medical professionals in reviewing X-rays and mammograms.

To learn more about AI’s potential to both disrupt and enhance the business world, read the Tracker’s Innovation and Use Cases section.

About the Generative AI Tracker

The “Generative AI Tracker®,” a collaboration with AI-ID, examines how to balance generative AI’s potential to enhance human productivity with ongoing concerns about its labor and environmental impacts, potential bias and disinformation.