5 AI Trends Global Business Leaders Should Know

Few technological breakthroughs have moved faster than Artificial Intelligence (AI). No wonder “move fast and break things” has been such a lasting Silicon Valley motto. But so far, AI isn’t breaking anything. Broadly applicable across economic sectors, the International Trade Administration believes AI will add a projected US $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

So as your team looks to bring AI into your organization, these are a few of the recent AI trends you should know.

Models continue to make leaps

While ChatGPT was released less than two years ago, subsequent models continue to make impressive progress. Just this year alone, OpenAI showcased its text-to-video application, Sora, and released its updated large language model (LLM), GPT-4o. Meanwhile, models from Anthropic, Meta and Google offer first-mover OpenAI plenty of competition.

 New models reduce errors, handle more data and offer possibilities beyond just chatbots and text generation. Global business leaders should ensure their companies are using the latest AI models, while staying up-to-date on the newest developments. This technology is moving fast — those that don’t track the week-to-week advancements risk getting left behind.

High costs persist

As AI models continue to advance, it all comes with a cost: compute power. Microsoft and OpenAI are spending potentially US $100 billion on “supercomputers” that help them run AI models, while Amazon is committing nearly US $150 billion on data centers over the next decade and a half. Simply put, AI continues to come with massive upfront costs.

So how does this affect teams across the business landscape? If, in the future, teams are able to build their own company-specific models using a tech giant’s LLMs, they shouldn’t expect these services to be cheap. Leaders need to plan their AI investments carefully and be able to track how certain AI commitments will unlock new growth areas.

Labor impacts are still a concern

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund released a report saying nearly 40% of jobs could be affected by AI — and potentially an even higher share of jobs in advanced economies could be impacted. As AI keeps getting better at accomplishing repetitive tasks, this disruption continues to worry workforces around the world.

Business leaders must be proactive. As the adage goes: you may not be replaced by AI, but you might be replaced by a human who effectively uses AI. That means companies should consider investing in instructional resources that teach employees how to use LLMs effectively. At successful companies, AI shouldn’t replace teams — it should simply make them more productive.

Speed and visibility are the main use cases

Every company uses AI a bit differently — so coming up with a one-size-fits-all AI manual across industries isn’t easy. But to generalize somewhat, AI currently seems to help companies work faster and monitor more comprehensively.

For instance, building management companies are using AI to track and optimize energy consumption. Meanwhile, real estate professionals are using AI models to quickly read thousands of pages of building and maintenance records. In global trade, AI goes beyond direct buyer and supplier relationships, and can be applied to help see global value chains, focus on critical business needs and collaborate to manage them. And event planning professionals are using AI to streamline registration and more efficiently reach interested potential attendees.

No, AI isn’t doing the whole job for these teams — but it’s helping them work faster and dive deeper into the data.

Safe, ethical AI remains a priority

Companies have a responsibility to ensure they’re only using models that prioritize transparency, respect data privacy, work within the law and avoid discrimination. While some media narratives around AI’s danger may be overblown, these are still powerful models with steep downsides.

Additionally, teams should be aware of the environmental cost of today’s AI models. For context, a Goldman Sachs report estimates that a single AI query to ChatGPT uses 10x more energy than a single Google search query — which can add up quickly across a large organization.

Educating your team on the best practices for AI safety will help you avoid these pitfalls — then put your company on track to be more productive, more effective and more creative through the responsible use of AI models.

To learn more about AI in business, register now for the 2024 WTCA Member Forum on October 27-29 in New York City. With the theme PIONEER the Global Network: Pathways for Innovation, Opportunity, Networking, Empowerment, Excellence, and Resilience, the Forum will feature two sessions that outline how your organization can leverage AI to boost efficiency and drive growth.

How do these 5 AI trends apply to your business? Tell us on our WTCA LinkedIn page using #WTCAMeridian #WTCATrendWatch.