Rodrigo Liang

SambaNova Systems CEO and Co-Founder

2023 has been an amazing year for generative AI. Looking forward to 2024, we envision a year of even greater changes. The market is scaling up so much that McKinsey has estimated that AI will add up to $4.4 trillion to the global economy.

2024 will be the year of safe harbor AI companies

While 2023 saw a boom in the number of vendors that offer AI-based solutions, there will be greater scrutiny around data privacy, security, and safety. People rushed to take advantage of the benefits of generative AI, but far too often the data they put into the model became publicly available. Then we saw some vendors, such as OpenAI, experience significant turnover in their leadership, bringing into question the stability of the organization.

For these reasons, combined with the introduction of various governmental regulations pertaining to generative AI in different countries, we predict that both customers and investors will focus on safe and secure AI companies. This will in turn drive further innovation and consolidation throughout the industry.

AI will go mainstream

In the consumer realm, ChatGPT has been one of the most rapidly adopted technologies in history with an estimated 100 million users only two months after launch. Large enterprises, however, have been more strategic in their adoption of generative AI. They have been experimenting with the technology as a support tool, to generate email and other forms of simple communication, and small form text summarization.

This will change in 2024 as generative AI becomes a foundational part of every activity within the enterprise. Proving valuable in 2023, generative AI will move on to power critical decisions within even the largest organization. Driven by a new type of model that is larger and more powerful than any previous ones, but without the drawbacks associated with models of that scale, AI will become pervasive in the enterprise.

ESG to the fore

Environmental, social, and governance concerns will be a key driver in how AI is adopted. Socially responsible implementation of AI will require many things. First, the carbon footprint of any AI platform will need to be evaluated. Depending on the technology powering the platform and the size of the models used, the hardware and energy footprint can vary significantly. Choosing a method that provides a lower carbon footprint will be a key factor in the choice of generative AI platform.

While power consumption will be a critical factor in hardware selection, the models themselves will also be impacted by ESG. Models will need to reduce bias and to provide explainability that is not found in consumer facing AI chat tools. Any platform that can address all of these needs will provide a significant customer advantage.

2023 was the year that generative AI entered the mainstream. Individuals from every walk of life adopted this amazing technology. In 2024, we will see it move from a consumer chat tool to become a key part of every enterprise, changing how we all work. It will make every organization more productive, more agile, and better able to meet customer demand. 2024 will be the year of enterprise AI.