Luigi D’Amico - Solution Executive, iOCO.

Mega global brands are uneasy that their protective moat of competitive advantage may have been entirely negated with the dawn of the GPT era. GPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformers), in the simplest of terms, is a type of advanced computer program that can understand and generate human-like text.

What this means is that you can ‘point and train’ a GPT on a set of mass-unstructured-text (for example your organisation’s data) and derive exponential value. Once ‘pointed’, the GPT can learn patterns and insights specific to your organization, which can then leverage the GPT capabilities to generate insights, automate tasks, assist in decision-making, or perform various natural language processing tasks that align with your organisation’s needs. This can be particularly useful for tasks such as data analysis, content generation, customer support, personalised messaging, or any other applications where language understanding, and generation, are required.

Most facets of business functions and processes, either partially or wholly, possess the potential to be distilled into language structures, thereby paving the way for GPT to provide invaluable assistance across a vast spectrum of tasks within your organisation’s realm.

GPT HAS COUSINS!

In the field of AI, domains such as CV (Computer Vision), RL (Reinforced Learning – think self-driving cars), Expert Systems (replicating human expert domains – e.g. law), Robotics (i.e. able to handle dynamic changing scenarios), and more, each offer unique applications and exciting potential.

We are truly at the doorstep of an exponential era.

You may be singing, “Where do I begin?” from the 1970s film “Love Story” – where does one begin when trying to adopt AI? Let’s unpack.

WHERE DO I BEGIN?

To start any big event, such as the Comrades marathon, the Tour De France cycle race, or an Ironman, one needs to go back and ensure different facets such as one’s training, preparation, endurance, health, experience, flexibility, diet and rest are in check.

To begin the AI journey, one needs to look at one’s organisational preparation and ensure that the fundamental building blocks for AI adoption and agility are in place.

AI foundations were (knowingly or unknowingly) laid during the following digital phases:

• Digital Transformation

• Digital Realisation

• Digital Differentiation

Each of the three digital phases is at a different state and maturity level for each organisation, but it boils down to age-old fundamental building blocks that ideally need to be in place:

• Data

»Digitise and tag all relevant intellectual property in the organisation

»Centralise IP Repository »Ensuring Data Quality and Pre-Processing

• Interoperability

»Ability to securely exchange data inside and outside the organisation (e.g. API-Platform)

• Orchestration

»Ability to transform and workflow data

»Allows one to customise and fine-tune the AI on the organisation’s IP repository. »Allows continuous learning and feedback loops

These three building blocks are by no means light work, in a world of large, multi-layered organisations where hard and soft factors both play a role. For an organisation, to execute on the three building blocks effectively will require practical experience, elevated autonomy and authority, and longevity in the CIO role.

Having a reasonable degree of maturity across each of the three building blocks allows an organisation to level up (in gaming terms) and unlock GPT. EOH

WANT TO DANCE?

There are many powerful open-source GPT models, with comparable results and bench marking that can be utilised today without delay.

However, if you prefer to leverage the ChatGPTs of this world, within 30 lines of code and a few dollars a month (depending on usage), you can harness OpenAI’s API (or others) and launch your own GPT or image generation capability for your organisation.

The undiscovered exponential benefits of GPT paired with an organisation’s IP could very well “rocket ship” South African businesses beyond global markets. This undiscovered territory needs focused and deliberate exploring to extract the business values.

It is in this context that the CIO’s role has never been more prominent in an organisation’s history of decisions, influence and budgeting. An organisation’s board members and executives need to give more airtime to their CIO, and experienced long-term digital partners, to formulate and execute the strategic decisions around harnessing AI for business growth.

HUMANITY

The convergence of digital technologies, organisational IP and artificial intelligence will for the first time let humanity comprehend what the word ‘exponential’ truly means in a business context.

As we embrace the dawn of this remarkable new era, may humanity perpetually recognise the essence that defines us, cherishing the timeless human spirit that will transcend any earthly intelligence.

Trains have already left! Are you ready to catch the next? Enjoy the ride!