Gartner Finds ChatGPT Has Supercharged Interest and Investment in AI

While AI technologies have been on offer to the business world for many years, it has taken an AI superstar – OpenAI’s ChatGPT – to help business leaders realize what they can do with generative AI. Companies and individuals are using generative AI to produce new content, prompt intelligent chat responses and even design material from scratch.

Now, a new Gartner poll found that 45 percent of respondents reported that the publicity of ChatGPT has prompted them to increase AI investments. Seventy percent of executives said that their organization is in investigation and exploration mode with generative AI, while 19 percent are in pilot or production mode.

“The generative AI frenzy shows no signs of abating,” said Frances Karamouzis, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Organizations are scrambling to determine how much cash to pour into generative AI solutions, which products are worth the investment, when to get started and how to mitigate the risks that come with this emerging technology.”

As organizations begin experimenting with generative AI, many are starting with use cases such as media content improvement or code generation. While these efforts can be a strong initial value-add, generative AI has vast potential to support solutions that augment humans or machines and autonomously execute business and IT processes, according to Gartner analysts.

Interestingly, only 17 percent of respondents indicated that their primary interest in generative AI is for cost cutting. Thirty eight percent cited improvements in the customer experience as a top reason for their interest in AI, and 26 percent cited the potential for revenue growth.

The Gartner poll found that 68 percent of executives believe that the benefits of generative AI outweigh the risks, compared with just five percent that feel the risks outweigh the benefits. However, executives may begin to shift their perspective as investments deepen.