Gartner: 45% of executives have increased AI investments due to ChatGPT

Dive Brief:

• The popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT has spurred 45% of executive leaders to invest more in generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to Gartner research published in a blog post.    
• Most respondents (70%) are still in an exploratory mode, but 19% are beginning tests and production tasks related to AI. More than two-thirds (68%) agreed the benefits of the controversial technology outweigh the risks, while just 5% believe the inverse is true.  
• Customer experience was the most commonly cited (38% of respondents) application, followed by revenue growth (26%), cost optimization (17%) and business continuity (7%). However, analysts warned about thorny questions related to trust, security and ethics. 

Dive Insight:

Gartner’s findings show that more business leaders are putting money behind the generative AI trend as software like ChatGPT continues to command public attention and investor interest. Generative AI could see more concrete consumer- and enterprise-facing applications emerge in the near future as initiatives move from experiments into the pilot phase, even as warning flags are raised about the potential risks of relying on the tech. Some businesses may learn about the downsides of automation the hard way, Gartner suggested. 

“Initial enthusiasm for a new technology can give way to more rigorous analysis of risks and implementation challenges,” said Frances Karamouzis, a distinguished analyst at Gartner, in a statement. “Organizations will likely encounter a host of trust, risk, security, privacy and ethical questions as they start to develop and deploy generative AI.”

Gartner’s polls were conducted among 2,544 respondents during a webinar series in March and April focused on AI, meaning the audience was already interested in the topic and ChatGPT. Due to this, the researcher cautioned that the takeaways are not meant to be interpreted as global findings or representative of the overall market. 

Still, it is clear that generative AI has gripped many industries, including marketing. Gartner said that “media content improvement” is a common way that companies are dipping their toes into the AI waters. Coca-Cola earlier this year partnered with OpenAI and Bain&Company on a campaign that encouraged consumers to use AI tools to make advertisements for its brand. 

Other marketers are exploring the sector’s potential to improve operational efficiency, lending credence to Gartner’s finding that customer experience is one of the most popular use cases. Wendy’s today (May 9) announced it was working with Google Cloud to test an AI solution for its drive-thrus called Wendy’s FreshAI. 

Gartner noted that many companies do not view optimizing costs as a top value add to be gained from generative AI despite the current economic pinch. That could potentially reflect the fact that the technology is known to be incredibly expensive due to its heavy computing demands. 

While brands have uncovered their next shiny object in the tech arena, consumers still carry reservations about generative AI. Less than half (42%) of consumers recently surveyed by Dentsu said they preferred brands that use AI versus those that don’t, though a larger share of respondents encouraged marketers to experiment. Skepticism was the second-most commonly held sentiment across demographics, beaten only by curiosity. Given the reticence, Dentsu recommended marketers start devising dedicated PR strategies in relation to AI.