Welcome to the AI Index Report, featuring practitioner analyst and entrepreneur Toni Witt. This series is intended to deliver the timely intelligence about artificial intelligence (AI) you need to get up to speed for an upcoming client engagement or board meeting.
Highlights
Innovation (00:25)
AptEdge takes a unique approach in using AI in the customer service industry. Founded in 2019, the company raised $11 million in its seed funding round this year. AptEdge focuses on empowering a human service agent by:
- Gathering data across an organization’s data sources
- Creating answers to help the agent help the customer directly
This parallels how Morgan Stanley uses GPT-4 to summarize internal information. By having a library of data collected over the years, the company can help its human investment advisors better counsel clients. This further demonstrates the ongoing theme of “human + AI.”
In an interview, Bobby Napiltonia, investor and executive advisor at AptEdge, notes how the company aims to “attack the knowledge” when using these systems. While many suggest that “data is the gold,” Napiltonia believes that “knowledge is the gold… and I want to know the answer associated with that knowledge.”
AptEdge pulls answers by looking across different areas of data, Napiltonia explains. It uses context-aware capabilities to determine possible outcomes. Then it produces an answer that humans can consume.
Funding and M&A (02:55)
Where is funding actually happening in generative AI? According to a CB Insights report on the distribution of generative AI funding in 2021–2022, there are five core categories:
- Visual media
- Generative interfaces
- Texts
- Speech and audio
- Code
This infographic provides a valuable overview of the use cases for generative AI. Businesses can utilize this to better understand why it’s such an exciting field.
Product of the Week (04:26)
There are various use cases for large language models (LLMs) and platforms like ChatGPT in the workplace. However, many organizations have concerns with these technologies in terms of data risk and data privacy. This is especially a problem when it comes to sensitive internal information.
Microsoft developed Bing Chat Enterprise, which is an extension of its Bing Chat and Edge Explorer Bing Chat sidebar. Some innovative features of this product include:
- It’s specifically designed for enterprise use. The tool hosts user interface (UI) features geared toward business use cases.
- Data security was a primary focus during development. Microsoft claims to never store user data or use it for future training.
- Despite being a technical innovation, this product unlocks value for organizations because of its range of use cases, such as making LLMs available for government agencies, larger organizations, enterprises, hospitals, and nonprofits.
The tool is available at no additional cost in Office 365 E3 and E5, and Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Business Premium. In the future, it will be available as a standalone offering at $5 per user per month.
