Battling to keep up with AI technically or socially, politically or legislatively? Don’t worry you’re not alone.
Over the past 12 months or so, when speaking with customers, partners, colleagues, developers, industry leaders, friends and even family, a day hasn’t gone by when the topic of AI hasn’t arisen. Not long into a conversation there is, almost universally, recognition of the main issues: 1) speed of change technologically, 2) separate country by country or regional introduction and updates of policy and legislative frameworks, 3) increase in media scare stories of a proliferation of AI generated misinformation; and 4) extreme opinions on AI which has led to confusion and for organisations a paralysis in decision making.
Internally, organisations are having to ask and answer in absolute terms how to safely, securely and with adherence to continually moving legislative goalposts effectively leverage AI to make their business better. This seemingly new technology that’s grabbing so many headlines and hijacking so many conversations, is in fact not so new.
Creative Virtual has been creating and implementing conversational AI solutions for over 20 years. Whilst the concerns that are being expressed are very valid and need addressing, they are all mitigable and in some instances what may have been an issue last year is no longer an issue at all.
There are two sides to the AI hype. There is all the negative stuff, hyperbole and misinformation. We are all familiar with headlines claiming that AI is taking over the world, or ‘stealing’ millions of jobs, ‘becoming a propaganda machine’, ‘sharing wrong or misinformation’, and ‘creating a plethora of deep fakes’ and so on and so on.
Then there is all the positive stuff around business benefits such as: 1) improved efficiency with more automation capability and streamlined processes, 2) enhancing employee and customer experiences, 3) increasing productivity, 4) providing greater data analytical capability; and 5) personalising interactions, to name a few.
Without exception, Creative Virtual’s conversational AI solutions mitigate the real and perceived issues surrounding AI and promote the positives to add tangible business value; impacting the top and bottom lines. We architect our solutions to maximise the important but unique relationships in every organisation between the four pillars of reputation, revenue, profit and sustainability. We also ensure that when the solution is implemented, tangible value is realised through a positive impact across all four pillars.
Nearly every other day there is something new around AI for us to get our heads around and how, as a provider of conversational AI solutions, we may have to adapt what or how we do things, and how we can help our customers to seamlessly evolve as everything surrounding AI changes.
If the biggest tech companies on the planet are struggling to keep up with AI and everything surrounding it, including different laws in different jurisdictions, is it any wonder that businesses large and small and most likely every person is pondering the topic of AI.
We only need to cast our minds back to June when Apple announced the launch of Apple Intelligence across the world, one to hastily add the caveat that availability in EU and China would face delay because of regulatory issues.
In terms of policy at the regional and country levels, on February 29 the African Union Development Agency published a policy draft that lays out a blueprint of AI regulations for African nations. On 1 August, The European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act came into force, On14 August, the South African Department of Communications and Digital Technologies announced it had released its national AI policy framework.
Whether it be the Americas, UK, Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, Australia or New Zealand, getting to grips with AI policy at the global, regional and local levels is no simple exercise. However, from a risk and reputation standpoint it is critical. That is why we operate a regional and local model whereby our local and regional experts take the lead in the conversations with clients and all consulting engagements. For businesses that have a multi-regional and global presence, we leverage our regional expertise across the world to ensure organisations are compliant, and do not put their reputations at risk.
What was yesterday, is not today and will not be tomorrow. The amount of new data being produced daily is said to be around 400 million terabytes. Therefore, it is no wonder that the topic of content is always on the agenda in discussions with businesses looking to leverage the benefits of conversational AI.
Technical fanciness aside, a conversational AI solution is only as good as the content it is consuming. At Creative Virtual we know this better than most, having for over 20 years, been advancing knowledge management to ensure companies are only sharing accurate, truthful, quality information in a consistent way. Leveraging technology advancements year on year, we have never veered from our principle of humans will always be in control, and the masters of the technology, not vice versa.
Today we have seamlessly made available, via our V-Studio platform, global and local large language models to give our clients the choice they seek. Not only do they have direct access via our platform, but they also remain fully in control of all the generative AI and curated information that they share with customers and employees. The AI guardrails that are spoken about are embedded in our platform, so organisations don’t need to worry about this aspect, and the highest security standards are available to them.
There is a lot to think about and understand when it comes to AI. All AI is not equal, and every pack of AI is not the same. DIY will never be on par with enterprise grade conversational AI just as an occasional, recreational weekend tennis player is probably never going to win an Open whether it be the Australian, French, US or Wimbledon. The game is at a different level, the surface is different, the environment is different, with different challenges.
AI yesterday was the beginning. AI today is happening. AI tomorrow is when exponential value is realised. Contact us to talk about how to ensure tomorrow’s AI can transform your business.