The Future of AI in Business: Trends to Watch in 2024 and Beyond

In a world increasingly shaped by the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, 2024 stands as another momentous year, with advancements that continue to reshape how we live, work, and imagine our future. From the rapid acceleration in capabilities of AI which understands and generates human language, to machines that now mimic—and even anticipate—our creative and decision-making processes, AI is absolutely no longer a futuristic concept. It’s a powerful force that very much exists in the present, continuing to challenge our expectations. As we look to the coming years, understanding the trajectory of AI’s influence is becoming essential for just about everyone, especially businesses. 

In this article, we explore key trends shaping the AI landscape, from the rise of natural language interfaces and their transformative impact on businesses to the challenges of managing shadow AI and harnessing data effectively. These insights will shed light on how businesses can stay ahead in an increasingly AI-driven world.

First trend: Natural Language Interfaces

Nearly two thirds of business owners believe that AI will improve customer relationships. A staggering 73% of businesses currently use or plan to use AI powered chatbots. 61% of companies already use AI to optimise emails. The business benefits of AI can be found from the small and everyday to the large and sweeping.

Despite the majority of consumers expressing concern about businesses using AI, the majority of consumers also say that they’ll still trust businesses who use AI. More than half of consumers believe that AI will improve writing and written communication. After all, over 200 million people make use of ChatGPT every week.

Sources: 

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/ai-in-business/

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/ai-statistics/

https://backlinko.com/chatgpt-stats#chatgbt-weekly-users

These statistics, combined with the rapid improvements in open source models, fine-tuning techniques and data understanding, mean that consumers will come to expect businesses to have natural language interfaces by default. Businesses who don’t take advantage of opportunities to present their customers with natural language interfaces will fall behind, much as a business still relying on telephones would have if it hadn’t adapted to have interaction via a website.

Businesses will quickly find themselves needing custom-built solutions, adapting language models to their specific needs on their own data for their customers. An obvious example of this trend is Amazon’s creation of “Rufus”. Rufus is Amazon’s AI chatbot, which presents customers with an interface to ask for suggestions on what to buy, query product information, all in natural language. Users are no longer restricted by keyword search bars, they can instead ask Rufus questions such as “What mini projector best suits a small bedroom?”, or “What’s a good present for a 5 year old who loves Spiderman?”.

At Digica, we have extensive experience with natural language processing. We are more than capable of developing tailored, fine-tuned language models, processing your private data, and achieving efficient, straightforward solutions to empower customer interaction.

Discover more here.

Second Trend: Shadow AI

It’s no surprise to anyone that a lot of people right now are using ChatGPT and other chatbots like Claude and Gemini. What’s concerning however, is individuals using them at their workplace who don’t have any understanding of what they can and can’t share. So called “Shadow AI” is the name given for this rising trend. Named so because IT operations have little to no insight as to what employees are sharing, it’s quietly causing a lot of damage and can be easily mitigated.

It’s going to be more important than ever to educate employees on best practices for using Generative AI tooling. Doing so will be short and easy to implement, and can save massively in the long run. Employees without your knowing might be sharing sensitive information, which can be mitigated with some simple education in how to still prompt the chatbot without divulging information. For example, if you’re an employee using ChatGPT to improve upon an e-mail, taking a few seconds to change the recipient’s real name to “John Doe” ensures that no sensitive information is being shared without affecting the request.

Third Trend: Understanding and Processing Data

The capabilities of the extensive, widely available AI tools are hugely hindered by bad data sources. Many businesses will struggle with legacy data that may be outdated, badly stored or poorly structured. Formatting data into sources that can be best used with AI models will allow businesses to implement powerful AI systems like the aforementioned natural language interfaces. Beyond this, businesses are increasingly having to wake up to the fierce competitiveness that surrounds data usage. Businesses that aren’t in a position to make use of their data in efficient and meaningful ways will fall behind.

This means that going forwards, there will be an ever increasing need for people who are knowledgeable about data: how it’s best kept, shaped and sourced. Mitigating biases, handling outliers and missing information, ensuring even class representation - these are just some of the problems faced when working with data. 

At Digica, we are experts in processing and utilising data to achieve actionable insights and results. We have extensive experience with handling data from varied sources, using it to develop successful predictive models across diverse industries and domains. One example where we successfully utilised large-scale data sourced from various devices is our preventative maintenance project.

Summary

The trends shown here are just some of the many that will arise in the coming years. AI is advancing rapidly, and the impact that it has already had on businesses is a small taste of what’s to come. Consumers will demand more from businesses, with the availability of AI applications and smart usage of data will only continue to be a necessity. Here at Digica, we’ve years of experience in all sorts of AI fields, with hundreds of projects achieved for different industries. Find out more here.