Generative AI will be the story of 2024 – for better or worse.
“Generative AI will be the fulcrum that businesses rely on to enhance, empower, and engage employees and customers – with or without you,” Forrester Research wrote in Predictions 2024. “Embrace the misstep, and think big.”
The top predictions from the technology and market research company’s annual report relate to generative AI (GenAI), the term for artificial intelligence that can use existing data to generate new content, such as text, video and photos, and even computer code.
‘Generative AI will seep into customers’ lives’
Forrester research finds that 50% of US respondents and 43% of French respondents familiar with the term “generative AI” believe it poses a threat to society. Despite that, Forrester predicts that in 2024, 60% of sceptics will “use (and love) generative AI – knowing it or not.”
Already, countless companies use GenAI technology in common apps and tech products, a trend that will only increase in 2024.
‘AI will spur the age of creativity’
In IT departments across all industries, Forrester sees 2024 as a big year for incorporating GenAI into organisations’ systems in a powerful way.
“Enterprise AI initiatives will boost productivity and creativity problem-solving by 50%,” Forrester said. Tools will create more time and more options for effectively creating innovative customer experiences.
Where will those tools come from?
Forrester predicted that “the top ten agencies will spend a combined $50 million in partnerships to build custom AI solutions for enterprise clients.”
Financial services forecast
Forrester also offered a mixed bag of predictions for 2024 specific to the financial services industry tied to the growth of GenAI. A recent survey revealed that financial services institutions might not be ready for what’s to come.
- Forrester predicts that the potential risks related to reliance on GenAI will hit the banking industry hard in 2024, forecasting that “at least ten banks will find themselves in front of regulators due to a generative AI-related disaster.”
- While noting research that 45% of business and technology professionals in wealth management plan to adopt some form of explainable AI in the next 12 months, Forrester is forecasting that one notable firm will pull back from the technology. Explainable AI, as the name suggests, is a form of GenAI capable of explaining how it arrived at its findings, but concern over AI’s ability to deliver trustworthy investment advice could cause reluctance from some wealth managers.
- While Forrester doesn’t believe GenAI will have much of an impact on the insurance industry in 2024 – forecasting that less than 1% of insurers will gain “tangible and direct benefits” in the next year – it does foresee payment technologies taking several steps forward. Forrester projects that more than half of B2B business will flow through B2B payments networks, and that account-to-account payments will more than double.
— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Bryan Strickland at Bryan.Strickland@aicpa-cima.com.
