Generative AI in 2024: Enterprise Trends and Insights
PLUS: Former Instacart and Youtube executive building something new in AI
Behind The Scenes
2024 marks a pivotal year as generative AI evolves into a mission-critical priority for enterprises. AI spending has surged to $13.8 billion this year, a staggering increase from $2.3 billion in 2023—an over 6x leap. This dramatic rise reflects a clear shift from experimentation to execution, with enterprises embedding AI at the core of their strategies.
This surge in investment mirrors growing confidence among organizations, with 72% of decision-makers anticipating broader adoption of generative AI tools in the near future. This confidence is not theoretical; generative AI is already reshaping daily workflows across industries, from programming to healthcare.
Yet, this optimism comes with challenges. Many organizations are still navigating the complexities of implementation. Over one-third of surveyed decision-makers report lacking a clear roadmap for integrating generative AI into their operations. Far from aimless spending, this indicates that we are at the early stages of a transformative journey. Enterprise leaders are beginning to unlock the immense potential generative AI holds for driving innovation and value.
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Geeks of the Week
Startup Name: Portal AI
Geography: US
One-liner: From a single photo, unlock perfectly crafted videos and campaigns tailored to amplify your brilliance.
Founder(s) Background: Director of Product (Payments) at WhatsApp, AI Research Scientist at Amazon, CEO at DMarket (acquired by Mythical Games).
Startup Name: Sluicebox
Geography: US
One-liner: Carbon intelligence for the electronics industry.
Founder(s) Background: Head of Global Operations at Freelancer.com, Senior ML Engineer at Uber, Senior Technical PM at AWS.
Founder(s) building in stealth
Founding Engineer at Martian (backed by General Catalyst, NEA and Prosus Ventures).
Head of Business Operations at Beacons (backed by a16z, Scott Belsky and Night Ventures).
Episode of the Week
Craig S. Smith, born on October 13, 1955, in Spokane, Washington, is an American journalist and former executive at The New York Times. Until January 2000, he wrote for The Wall Street Journal, notably covering the rise of the Falun Gong movement in China. In 2000, he joined The New York Times as the Shanghai bureau chief, reporting extensively on the practice of harvesting organs from executed prisoners in China.In 2002, Smith moved to Paris and reported from over forty countries, including Iraq, Israel, and Kyrgyzstan.
He covered significant conflicts such as the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the 2003 Iraq War, and the 2006 Israeli-Lebanese War, as well as the 2005 unrest in the French banlieues. In 2008, he became the executive editor of a financial news venture by Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li Tzar Kai and later served as senior vice president of Li’s Pacific Century Group. Smith returned to The New York Times in late 2011 as China managing director, where he founded and ran their first foreign language site, cn.nytimes.com.