CEO's fix of Generative AI

Alex Singla et al

Amid the excitement surrounding generative artificial intelligence (AI) since the release of ChatGPT, Bard, Claude, Midjourney and other content-creating tools, chief executive officers (CEOs) are understandably wondering: is this tech hype or a game-changing opportunity?

And, if it is the latter, what is the value to my business?...


Generative AI chatbots are powered by foundation models, which contain expansive neural networks trained on vast quantities of unstructured, unlabelled data in a variety of formats, such as text and audio. Foundation models can be used for a wide range of tasks.

One foundation model, for example, can create an executive summary for a 20,000-word technical report on quantum computing, draft a go-to-market strategy for a tree-trimming business, and provide 5 different recipes for the 10 ingredients in someone's refrigerator.

The downside to such versatility is that, for now, generative AI can sometimes provide less accurate results, placing renewed attention on AI risk management. Once proper guard rails are in place, generative AI would not only unlock novel use cases for businesses but would also speed up, scale or otherwise improve existing ones.

(From 'What Every CEO Should Know About Generative AI', McKinsey & Co)