Cutting Through the Generative AI Noise: What Business Leaders Should Do Now

COMMENTARY

No matter what industry you’re in, there are two things that every business leader cares about: revenue growth and cost reduction. These are the metrics that CEOs talk about ad nauseam during earnings calls. They are the keys that unlock higher business valuations, individual performance bonuses and the ever elusive “shareholder value.” So why not view generative AI through the same lens? How can AI drive revenue growth and cost reduction for your business?

While generative AI has been getting a lot of media hype, it’s not a panacea for all problems — nor was it ever intended to be. But, if wielded properly, it can be a big help. So, let’s take a minute to mute the din of swirling buzzwords and get down to brass tacks: How can you deploy generative AI to improve your business today?

Using Generative AI for Revenue Growth

At its core, generative AI allows users to rapidly produce new content, including text, photos and video, at eye-watering speeds and with minimal human prompting. There are many examples of companies using generative AI to grow their businesses, including using it to design and develop new products, create custom marketing content, and recommend and sell products directly to customers. Does this still feel a bit abstract? Okay, then let’s jump into some concrete examples.

Designing & Developing New Products

WHILL, a Japanese personal electric vehicle manufacturer, used generative AI design software from Autodesk to build a lighter motorized wheelchair. The key challenge was reducing the weight of the heaviest part of the assembly, the battery case. After inputting engineering specifications, WHILL engineers leveraged the software’s ability to generate and compare many possible solutions simultaneously. Ultimately, WHILL engineers were able to identify a new design that reduced the battery case weight by a whopping 40%. 

Creating Custom Marketing Content

Virgin Voyages, a cruise line joint venture between Virgin Group and Bain Capital, used generative AI to cleverly create personalized advertisements. Leveraging technology developed by Deeplocal, Virgin Voyages offered customers the ability to create custom cruise invitations using Jennifer Lopez’s likeness for their friends and family. Still a bit confused? Well, some things you just need to see for yourself. The campaign was highly successful, resulting in over 1,000 bookings and increased engagement rates compared with previous campaigns.

Recommending and Selling Products to Customers

Amtrak has 28 million passengers each year. It offers service to 500 destinations, across 46 states, along 21,000 miles of railways. It was an early adopter of automated customer service and launched “Julie” in 2001 to field questions from its passengers by phone. As customer attention shifted towards the online market, Amtrak needed to give Julie a makeover. The company implemented an online AI chatbot called “Ask Julie” that helped answer questions and provide booking support for Amtrak’s 375,000 daily online visitors. The results have been astonishing. Ask Julie answers 5 million questions each year, generates 30% more revenue per booking and saves Amtrak $1 million in customer service expenses annually.

Using Generative AI for Cost Cutting

Now, let’s transition to the cost cutting side of the equation. There are many examples of companies using generative AI to cut down on costs. Companies are already using generative AI to automate “busywork,” like summarizing meeting notes, writing work emails and analyzing documents. It can also be used for higher value functions, like writing software code. If you had to distill the benefits of generative AI down to one word, it would be “efficiency.” Generative AI can help companies work faster, and in certain situations, it can eliminate the need for entire roles — such as in the Ask Julie customer service example.

There are some less obvious benefits too. PayPal is using generative AI to identify fraudulent charges in real time by pointing out anomalies in transaction data. GE is using generative AI in its aviation division to predict equipment failures in aircraft engines, improving passenger safety while reducing maintenance costs. Meanwhile, Walmart is using generative AI to enhance various elements of its supply chain management, such as demand forecasting, inventory management and dynamic pricing. 

Too often, people view generative AI with a sense of fear. Will generative AI obviate the need for some jobs? Yes. Will it take all jobs? No.

But one thing is abundantly clear, companies that use generative AI to grow revenue and reduce costs will outperform companies that don’t use it. 

Arvin Patel is an American inventor, innovator and entrepreneur. Patel currently serves as Nokia’s chief licensing officer of New Segments. He has decades of experience in the technology and entertainment sectors and is an IP industry veteran known for creating non-traditional strategies to develop products and services. He has overseen R&D and IP for world-leading companies and held senior leadership roles at TiVo, IBM and Technicolor. He most recently served as Intellectual Ventures’ chief operating officer for the Invention Investment Fund, a portfolio dedicated to investing and working with the world’s best minds and businesses. He can be reached on LinkedIn.

Michael Poppler is a partner at Sherpa Technology Group, a management consulting firm that helps clients develop and execute technology and intellectual property strategies to achieve their business objectives. He has been listed as one of the “World’s Leading IP Strategists” by Intellectual Asset Management. He can be reached by email.