Corporate Hits and Mistakes – AI Hype and Real Use Cases, Corporate Revenues Face Headwinds, Buyers Get New BS Detectors

Lead Story – AI Use Cases, Litigation, Ethics – Where Will It Land?

upon Disrupt TV last week, I said AI defied Gartner. While technology supposedly drives his Gartner hype cycle into a “productivity plateau,” AI has broken that rule and dived into what I coined “a pile of malevolent awesomeness” ( Whether Gartner will add that to the hype remains to be seen).

A week at Diginomica is a contrast. On the one hand, AI use cases are maturing. Barb rated it on Viva la Revolution! AI use cases in B2C commerce – it’s time to move forward. Barb says that so far the main AI use cases in e-commerce and marketing are around AI for data normalization via customer data platforms (I would say pricing and I would argue that recommendation engines are also mature AI commerce use cases). – See: Amazon’s e-commerce dominance). But as Barb writes, use cases are changing.

Once you have a complete and accurate picture of your customer, what next? How do you act and make it an everyday part of your business process?

Judging by the extravagant hype festival, ChatGPT and generative AI might look like this.

We are on the cusp of (another) “revolution” in which AI is impacting marketing and commerce. That is the revolution that everyone is talking about today. You can’t read his three posts on LinkedIn without someone talking about AI-generated content and images (ChatGPT, Dall-E). AI-generated content is nothing new. There are many solutions available to help you generate subject lines and ad copy using the power of AI and ML.

But Barb says the next step comes first: Acting on that “normalized” data:

Bloomreach’s Brian Walker believes companies are not effectively using AI in their marketing channels, such as search, merchandising, and digital experience content. That’s an easy feat for most businesses today, he said.

I interpret it this way: Not everyone is good at Amazon work. But ChatGPT forced this issue. Marketers must take a stand on how generative AI tools are used, how they can help, and when they are not ready or inappropriate. This is where the tech media obsessed doesn’t help. This means that generative AI can now create almost any marketing copy (unless you want your copy to be fanatical and mediocre, which you can’t).

But now we are in an ethical/legal quagmire. Most generative AI tools are trained on “public” datasets, and the creator has a different definition of opt-in than her AI entrepreneur. Chris takes it upon himself with generative AI – will it be summer for humanity or a legal winter for vendors?

ChatGPT simulations must be derivative works if the artist is alive and/or the work is copyrighted (and therefore not in the public domain).

Indeed, it is only a derivative. That is implied in the instructions, “Write a Nick Cave song…”. In other words, the generation tool is not AI at all, it’s really just a derivative work engine. In addition, derivative works are subject to copyright law.

Not surprisingly, the company is taking a more cautious approach than ChatGPT’s call for revelry and Microsoft, which can afford to spend a lot of money redefining the unwinnable search game (Bing). Chris again:

A handful of organizations are rushing for early adoption, but the majority are still not convinced that a “toy” equals a “useful tool.”

My take on generative AI is different. It’s already here. As for preparation, we are probably late. See also Chris’ Capital’s ideas. The importance and dangers of ethical AI investments.

Vendor analysis, Diginomica style. It’s time to figure out another batch of corporate earnings:

• ServiceNow Expects $8.5 Billion in Revenue in 2023 – Delivers Strong Quarter – Let’s start with Derek’s brightest news: A relatively solid earnings report from ServiceNow. Oh, and his CEO Bill McDermott has already said there are no layoffs planned for 2023 (many of his software companies at the largest enterprises can’t say that). McDermott, predictably, raved about the appeal of his company:”C-level buyers don’t want a long-term roadmap to clean up the siled mess of point solutions.They want integration, speed, automation, great experiences, and business impact.”
• Optimize the positive! Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella makes his pitch amid sluggish profits and confirmed layoffs – a little more calm at Microsoft. Mr Stuart said: Spending on Windows products was down 39% for him, but he saw “modest consumption growth” in Azure. A brighter spot is Microsoft Cloud revenue, where he grew 22% year-over-year. ”
• SAP announced it will lay off 3,000 people following “one of the most important years in our history.” SAP joins a long list of software vendors that have had significant layoffs. Stuart analyzes a mixed record of earnings news, including SAP’s confirmation of plans to sell his stake in Qualtrics and his 47% year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter earnings. Still, CEO Christian Klein expressed confidence in SAP’s overall cloud and subscription momentum.
• Qualtrics has grown 36% for the full year as SAP considers selling its remaining stake. Stuart quotes his CEO Zig Serafin. enterprise. ”

What do all these reports have in common?

• Recognition of a tougher buying environment (a.k.a. “headwinds”).
• But despite the lower projections, technology spending continues.
• Exposure to consumer technology is certainly a drag on revenue. I think vendors that rely on larger multi-year projects are also at more risk.
• Companies are still serious about modernizing their technology, but they are prioritizing rather than claiming quicker wins with long-term platform choices in mind.

It’s an unforgiving environment for startups, immature technology, and unnecessary headgear, but as these earnings reports show, it’s clearly possible to achieve results in the fray.

Other top picks from our vendor coverage:

John’s Grab Bag – Stewart always

This week, Phil revealed how mmhmm cut quarterly board meetings from four hours to 90 minutes. Oh, andWhy VR Business Talks Are A Stupid Idea(Hermon!) Speaking of backtracked tech hype, Chris revisits Quantum in “The quantum tripping point – where are we are today?” Development is a slow burn).

Finally, the next best since the last best! In keeping with some tech hype model, Brian offered corporate buyers a nifty refinement of his BS filter, just in time for ChatGPT sales to be flooded with his calls.

Best after last best! Some tech hype models are meant to survive. Parroting or amplifying the founders’ claims without verification is at least ethically questionable and intellectually weak. Yet bloggers, influencers, and the traditional media are helping and fueling the continued hype for these new technology products simply because articles about these new technologies are engaging and easy to write. (especially if the founder/investor Spoon gave them a copy and a soundbite).

Brian seems to have plenty of sriracha on hand…

Best of Enterprise Web

my top 7

• The CEO’s Guide to the Metaverse – Too many Metaverse handwaves for me, but still a useful article if your company is trying to figure out where the action lies. I’d be interested to see if there are any features beyond high-end sales and digital twins that I personally don’t consider to be metaverse use cases.
• What makes NFTs unique? – Constellation’s Steve Wilson has a way of writing about NFTs and blockchains in a balanced way without losing a sharp edge. He comes up with concepts that I have honed. Decentralization is a key element of these technologies. Understanding that clarifies enterprise use cases, but also reduces:”The key is to understand exactly where decentralization emerges with these technologies. Decentralization is part of the digital zeitgeist, but is historically uncommon in business and society. Most of us live and work within a myriad of authority structures. We routinely interact with intermediaries and institutions that have evolved over decades (or centuries) as the most efficient way to organize complex communities. Rarely can these structures be decentralized, and even more rarely the benefits of decentralization are worth the cost. Bitcoin, NFTs and DIDs all do something truly unique, but very specialized..”
• From Executive to Tech Teams: Reinvent Us, Fast – Joe McKendrick digs into Accenture data and, not surprisingly, “reinventing the whole enterprise” is no easy task. “Most companies haven’t gotten that far yet. A survey of 1,516 companies found that only 8% believed they had been “reinvented” along these lines..”
• As Activist Investors Target Salesforce, What Will The CRM Giant Do Next? – Ron Miller’s Interesting Article Sees Working With Activist Investors Does Not necessarily Do the Defense It explains why it is not.
• Pivot to ChatGPT? BuzzFeed is gearing up for AI-written content while CNET fumbles – I think Buzzfeed has gone too far here, but investors are taking it. We love it – and it buys runway. Please do your best…
• Replace workers with AI? Don’t forget the retraining fees – The Register makes some interesting points about the unexpected cost of keeping your training data set up-to-date. It also notes how this may exclude many companies from replicating what deep pockets do with generative AI. I’m not sure, but understanding the cost (and logistics) of updating the training data requires more attention.
• A New Chapter for Netflix – No one does a better job of analyzing the crossroads of a tech giant’s business model than Ben Thompson. This article, which delves into Netflix and explains why its new content is now a differentiator, works well as a “cup of coffee.”

capricious

There’s little to say bad about taking a refreshing nap, but…

Your smart home isn’t as smart as the devices that are physically connected all the time.

Are US credit bureaus actually trying to protect consumer data, or are they busy doing something else?

By the way, the worst technical failures on the 2022 list are all out now… MIT came out with an especially hard-hitting one… #ensw For good or bad hits and misses, let us know in the comments: Clive (Almost) always. Most enterprise hits and misses articles are selected from my handpicked articles @jonerp newsfeed.