The first one.
“Gradually, then suddenly.” - Ernest Hemingway
This quote is exactly how I feel when I think about my personal experience with AI. For years as a Product Manager, I had leveraged and even built AI products - but I didn’t see their introduction as a transformational / world-rocking change of power. That was until mid-way through 2023. Then “suddenly” it seemed to take over my world. Everywhere I looked, everything I listened to, and everything I saw was reverberating the importance and impact of AI. At first I thought this was another version of when people flipped out about Web3 or VR but I was extremely wrong as countless leaders came forward (and continue to come forward) talking about the massive changes they’re making as a result of AI or even speaking to their concerns about AI. Deloitte recently stated in a post “84% of financial executives believe AI will be either "critically" or "highly" important to their business success in the next two years.” PWC reported that AI will contribute $15.7 Trillion (that’s correctly a “T”) by 2030.
In observing the tremendous noise about AI and the countless new companies and products built every day, I’ve noticed as companies have begun to find their place in the new world. We’ll put them in groups.
Group One: Small in quantity but unbelievable in revenue size - you have the behemoths of Tech that have always used AI but now find themselves in a battle to become the NUMBER ONE provider and thought leader in this new era. This is of course Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, etc (I expect Apple and Amazon to announce massive releases soon).
Side note: I know OpenAI is the newest of these companies and not a “behemoth” in terms of lifespan so far but I think $11b in funding and their rocketship growth quantifies them into Group One not Group Two.
Group Two: Then in another small group you have companies quickly creating/iterating to use AI either as their main product or as a compliment to their product. These companies may leverage the LLMs and APIs provided by Group One but they sell a distinct new product to their customers. Here I think of Bubble.io, Medallion, Newfront, etc. If these companies find fast ways to scale to many customers, they stand a great chance of defining their industries in this new era.
Group Three: This is the largest group by far. Here sit millions of companies who are unaware of how to use AI to better their business. They’ve heard the news, they know it can be a game-changer but when they look into AI tools or hear pitches from their tech orgs, it’s for chatbots and content creation tools, things that will rarely move the needle in terms of revenue or growth. Group Three is extremely vulnerable. I believe companies in Group Three that don’t find ways to leverage AI to grow their business will get outpaced by their competition and far faster than previously thought possible. Group three’s problem is not that they don’t want to use AI, it’s lack of knowledge of how/where to apply it and knowledge of what is possible for them to achieve.
I believe 2024 will be a revolutionary year in seeing how AI is applied to companies across all industries. I’ve had the joy of working for the past few months with some businesses in Miami to see how AI can change their landscape and it is extremely exciting to go through the discovery process with a partner and help them realize what’s possible for them to achieve. They are the perfect example of companies moving from Group Three into Group Two and it can sometimes take surprisingly little time to do so. If you find yourself in Group Three and you want to learn about what potentials there are for you, please reach out through the contact form - I’d love to have a conversation and see what’s possible.
