AI Hype Cycle 2.0. This Time It's Not The Technology That's Full Of Hot Air
When you don't have results, you need a good story, and the need for a good story will drive the next AI hype cycle. The sparring match between Microsoft and Google gives us insights into technology trends and competitive forces that will percolate to more traditional industries. What we're watching right now is a heavyweight fight. Two Titans in the AI industry are having at it with each other.
On one side, Microsoft seems to have taken the lead by partnering up with OpenAI. Microsoft has bought itself a great AI story; even better, they have results to back it up. Not every business will be in the same position. The story is easy to craft, but execution will challenge many companies in the next 2 years.
Most leaders who have successfully implemented a data and AI strategy that delivered top and bottom-line impacts don’t talk about the technology being the biggest challenge. Ally Financials’ Chief Data and Analytics Office said it best, “What I thought was a last-mile problem was really a first-mile problem.” The technology problems are relatively simple to resolve.
The main barriers that will hold companies back are related to monetization. Turning data and models into products isn’t a technology problem. That’s a business problem requiring a very different approach than previous technologies like software and the cloud.
It Must Start With Products And Customers
Microsoft’s story is backed up with execution. Their integration of ChatGPT into multiple product lines is one of the fastest rollouts I have ever seen. Microsoft has been preparing for this, and getting the first mile right has paved the way to make their story come true.
Today’s Microsoft product announcement was the integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft Teams. The objective is to make meetings less painful. There's a significant value proposition for businesses sitting behind the cool technology.
Meetings are costly. If Teams can deliver a feature that helps people avoid going to a meeting, it will save the business money overnight. People who get to skip meetings are more productive. In a labor shortage and with cost-cutting front of mind for CEOs, this feature delivers a solution for 2 business pain points.
The feature isn’t entirely novel. IBM has had something similar in its software for quite some time. Microsoft’s version will probably be more functional. Using OpenAI’s models, Microsoft Teams can summarize the meeting and pull relevant action items out.
Presumably, people who didn't attend the meeting can ask Teams questions about the meeting’s content or events and get answers. I see the potential for aggregating data across a series of meetings or even job interviews that people can query with natural language.
The Teams integration isn’t a fluffy feature meant to grab headlines. There’s an obvious link to customer value.
Solving The Customer Adoption Problem
The Teams feature set follows one of the philosophies I use in businesses to get reluctant organizations to adopt data and model-supported products. Many people miss the level of effort required to drive adoption with those first data products. Users and customers don’t show up prepared to adopt. It takes effort. How do I do it?