In the swiftly changing landscape of technology, Generative AI has emerged as a transformative force. Although a relatively recent entrant to the tech landscape, it is already causing ripples of change across several industries, making it impossible to ignore. At its core, the technology’s ability to understand vast quantities of data and then generate human-like content, whether it’s text, images, or code, is reshaping how we work. While it was previously limited to large corporations, the rise of Generative AI has levelled the playing field and made it accessible to businesses of all sizes.
Among the companies leading the charge is IdeaBits, renowned for its work with startups, serving as a growth partner to help them build and scale their products. In recent times, IdeaBits has been steadily amassing expertise in the dynamic field of Generative AI. Today, it stands at the forefront of this transformative space, well-positioned to usher in a new era of possibilities. With their tailored solutions, they don’t just open doors; they help companies embrace the future. In this evolving landscape, IdeaBits plays a pivotal role in democratising the potential of Generative AI, making it accessible and beneficial to businesses of all sizes.
What is Generative AI?
Generative AI has been the talk of the town, not just within the tech industry but also far beyond, ever since the release of ChatGPT. Since then, this field has experienced exponential growth, captivating the imagination of innovators and industry disruptors. Among these, IdeaBits stands out as a trailblazer in harnessing the immense business potential offered by Generative AI.
In their quest to delve into the realm of Generative AI, IdeaBits took a proactive approach. They established an in-house AI team with a primary focus on research and development. Simultaneously, they engaged with industry leaders and actively participated in conferences to gain insights and learn about the potential applications of this groundbreaking technology. Their strategic vision was clear: leveraging Generative AI for innovative solutions.
With the release of OpenAI’s API, IdeaBits began building Proof of Concepts (POCs) on top of it, paving the way for practical applications. By Q3, the technology had stabilised, and they commenced collaborating with clients, offering them the advantages of Generative AI. So, what sets Generative AI apart from its predecessors?
Foundational Models: Transforming AI Landscape
At the heart of this Generative AI revolution lies the concept of Foundational Models, which has radically transformed how AI systems are developed and utilised. Foundational models mark a significant departure from traditional AI, with two core distinctions.
- Accelerated Training: Traditionally, training AI models involved feeding them copious amounts of data and continuously refining their understanding until the desired output was achieved. This process was resource-intensive and time-consuming. However, Foundational Models have changed the game. These models rapidly comprehend vast quantities of unstructured data. This means that, instead of labouring over training models, attention can be redirected towards innovative use cases and tangible output, resulting in substantial time savings.
- Unparalleled Flexibility: Foundational Models offer unparalleled flexibility, as they can adapt to a wide array of use cases. OpenAI’s models for ChatGPT, a text-based foundational model, and another for DALL-E, an image-based foundational model, serve as prime examples. These models have set the stage for diverse applications without the need to start from scratch. IdeaBits, for instance, no longer has to invest its time in building and training models for each new project.
Co-Founder & COO of IdeaBits, Mayan Narendran emphasises the significance of this development, stating that, “Imagine a business with 30 years of data scattered across departments and formats. With Foundational Models, all this data can be seamlessly fed into the AI model, which can not only understand this data but also establish relationships within it, enabling users to query the data efficiently.”
In essence, Foundational Models eliminate the need for extensive data preparation, pivoting the focus towards real-world use cases where technology can address pressing issues. This paradigm shift has been particularly liberating for startups and scaleups, enabling them to harness the potential of Generative AI. The game-changing nature of Foundational Models is democratising AI, making it faster and more cost-effective than ever before, expanding the horizon of possibilities and ushering in an era of innovation.
How are companies using Generative AI?
Generative AI, with its impressive capabilities, has made a significant impact across various industries, leading to substantial changes. It has influenced a wide range of sectors in today’s technology-driven world. For instance, in the retail industry, Generative AI simplifies tasks such as sales summarization, hyper-personalization, and product classification. This technology utilises computer vision to optimise inventory management and enhance price optimization. A notable example is Amazon, which employs Generative AI to analyse product reviews and provide concise summaries, helping buyers make quicker, more informed decisions.
In the financial sector, Generative AI has become a valuable tool. Banks use it for tasks like fraud detection, credit scoring, personal finance management, risk assessment, and customer segmentation. Bank of America, for instance, leverages Generative AI to create synthetic data resembling fraudulent transactions, improving their fraud detection accuracy. Morgan Stanley also utilises Generative AI, sharing its intellectual resources with OpenAI to equip its financial advisors with data-driven insights for better client service.
The healthcare industry has undergone a transformation thanks to Generative AI. It plays a pivotal role in regulatory reporting, real-world analysis, and claims benefits explanations, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient healthcare ecosystem. Similarly, in the travel sector, companies like Expedia utilise Generative AI to develop AI assistants that guide travellers through the complexities of planning and booking their trips, offering a personalised experience. Likewise, in telecommunications, Generative AI enhances personalization and network optimization, while clear bill explanations improve user experiences.
Expanding its influence across various sectors, Generative AI has brought substantial change. Call-centre analytics are more insightful, knowledge management has become more efficient, and email automation has become more streamlined. The technology fosters creativity in marketing content creation, simplifies contract generation, and propels code development into a new era. Human resources processes are now automated, making personnel management more efficient. Across these diverse sectors, it’s evident to all observers that Generative AI is already pushing boundaries to usher in an era of innovation and efficiency.
Generative AI Solutions from IdeaBits Delivering Transformative Value
With their growing expertise in Generative AI, IdeaBits has embarked on developing curated solutions for its clients. From pioneering customer chatbots offering 24/7 support to data-driven insights drawn from call centre interactions, personalised guides for mobile apps, and a secure on-premise ChatGPT, the solutions developed by the company epitomise its commitment to utilising innovative technologies to empowering organisations to deliver greater value to their customers. In conversation with Arteculate, Senior Business Analyst at IdeaBits, Jethmi Jayasinghe provided additional insights into these solutions.
A Generative AI-Powered Customer Chatbot
Recently, IdeaBits developed a Generative AI-powered customer chatbot solution that can be incorporated into the websites of their clients. With this chatbot, customers can instantly get any information they need about an organisation’s services. This chatbot is more than just an automated responder; it’s a highly resourceful, accurate, and accessible virtual assistant available 24/7. “It stands out by engaging in human-like conversations with customers and offering quick and precise responses. Clients have been exceptionally impressed with its ability to cut through information clutter and provide immediate assistance, regardless of the time,” explained Jethmi. Thus, with the power of Generative AI, this chatbot eliminates the need to wait for a customer service agent, empowering customers to communicate with it at their convenience.
Obtaining Accurate Customer Insights from Call Centers
Call centres host vast quantities of data regarding interactions a business has with its customers. These range from call recordings to email correspondences to chat transcripts and more. IdeaBits developed a system that can efficiently process and obtain actionable insights from these vast amounts of customer interaction data. What makes this system exceptional is its capacity to understand the language and context of these interactions in real-time. Illustrating its impact, Jethmi said, “It seamlessly converts this data into actionable insights, summarising crucial details, such as caller and agent identities, call duration, sentiment analysis, subject matter, and issue resolution status. Furthermore, this data is centralised and organised, providing all departments across the organisation with a comprehensive view of customer interactions.”
A Personalized Guide for Mobile Apps
IdeaBits has developed another innovative Generative AI-powered solution, a guide for mobile applications. Mobile apps are typically designed to appeal to a wide range of users. IdeaBits’ bot acts as a helpful guide, assisting users in finding the features they need and providing tailored recommendations. It achieves this by analysing user usage data and offering a curated experience as users navigate through the app. This approach simplifies app navigation and enhances the user’s experience through a newfound layer of personalization.
An On-Premise and Highly Secured ChatGPT
Recognising the growing popularity of ChatGPT and the data-security concerns of organisations, IdeaBits has created an on-premise and highly secure version of it. This tailored solution addresses the need for data protection, particularly in industries dealing with sensitive information by ensuring it remains within the organisation’s secure environment and is not exposed externally. “It provides companies with a robust and secure solution for harnessing the power of ChatGPT without compromising data security,” adds Jethmi. In doing so, IdeaBits empowers organisations to confidently use ChatGPT for various applications while maintaining the utmost data security and privacy.
Overcoming Challenges and Mastering the Technologies of Generative AI
To craft these tailored solutions for its clients, IdeaBits is committed to utilising technologies that align with the requirements of its clientele while staying at the forefront of the dynamic arena of Generative AI. Their journey commenced with the development of a website chatbot employing GPT-3. Since then, Senior Technical Architect at IdeaBits, Kushal Dias states that IdeaBits has consistently kept pace with the field’s swift advancements. Presently, they have adopted newer iterations, including the most recent GPT-4. The choice between GPT-4 and its 32k version, with an extended token limit, is made judiciously, and tailored to the specific demands of the use case at hand. This adaptability ensures that they can offer the most effective solutions, finely tuned to their clients’ unique needs.
Likewise, the company is also exploring new avenues of data storage to better utilise these technologies. A recent addition to IdeaBits’ technological arsenal is the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, a move by the company that’s brought several advantages. The move to Azure affords them the capability to seamlessly combine multiple data sources, streamlining data aggregation. Kushal went on to say, “By consolidating resources with a single provider, IdeaBits fosters operational efficiency as it simplifies the maintenance of the technology stack that powers our solutions. Additionally, the comprehensive suite of services available within the Azure platform augments our capabilities, empowering us to craft intelligent solutions spanning a diverse array of use cases.”
However, the journey hasn’t been without its challenges. Some of the key challenges, which IdeaBits faced and overcame as it ventured into Generative AI are as follows:
- Rapid Technological Evolution: Generative AI is evolving swiftly, and things are changing on an almost daily basis. A notable illustration of this rapid evolution Kushal points out is the emergence of BingChat, which can obtain data from the internet in real-time. This contrasts with earlier GPT versions, which had limitations up to 2021. This highlights how in the world of Generative AI, something that may not be available today could likely be accessible tomorrow. Therefore, IdeaBits’ R&D team remains at the forefront of the Generative AI landscape by proactively exploring emerging technologies.
- Limited Community Support: Another key challenge of emerging technologies is that community assistance is quite limited. While the community around Generative AI is growing due to its explosive popularity, the rapid pace of change means everyone is constantly learning new things at the same pace. As they continue to build curated solutions for different use cases and strengthen their expertise, IdeaBits is willing to share its learnings to help strengthen the community.
- Token Limit Constraints: A recurring challenge for IdeaBits has been the token limits associated with GPT models. While these limits have increased with newer versions of GPT, they still pose a hurdle. IdeaBits has tackled this by developing complex algorithms to work within these constraints, enabling them to deliver more sophisticated solutions.
- Managing AI Hallucinations: In the context of Generative AI, “hallucinations” refer to instances where AI models generate creative but contextually inappropriate content. IdeaBits faced this challenge due to the inherently creative nature of AI. To address this issue, they conducted research and development experiments, with a particular focus on prompt engineering. By refining this approach to structuring input prompts for AI models, IdeaBits has effectively managed and reduced AI hallucinations, ensuring that the generated content aligns better with the intended objectives.
By adeptly overcoming these challenges, IdeaBits has been able to find the right technologies to effectively solve problems. In doing so, the company continues to provide innovative and valuable Generative AI solutions to its clients. Thus, solidifying their position as a leading player in this new dynamic field.
The Promising Future of Generative AI
Peering into the future of Generative AI is akin to gazing at a landscape that’s constantly changing non-stop. We’re witnessing tech giants embroiled in an AI arms race, while also cautiously reminding everyone not to blindly rush into the unknown. In this fast-paced environment, businesses are locked in a parallel race of their own, striving to swiftly implement this transformative technology to gain a competitive edge. This race is not exclusive to corporations; it extends to pioneering providers like IdeaBits, building solutions to empower the businesses mentioned above.
The challenge lies in transitioning from what was considered disruptive just a mere ten months ago to something that is entirely revolutionary. For IdeaBits, the key is securing a prominent position at the forefront of this ever-evolving field. This entails being among the first to work with clients, adopting emerging technologies, and leveraging their early entry to solve problems uniquely and efficiently, all while building and maintaining a sterling reputation. The future, however, remains uncertain.
Predicting the Generative AI landscape in six months is a formidable task. What’s clear is that, just as tools like ChatGPT are now widely used for various tasks, the future envisions AI as a ubiquitous co-pilot, assisting individuals in their professional roles. Describing this future, Mayan envisions, “Imagine a lawyer with an AI co-pilot, streamlining research and document drafting. Recently, we had conversations with a legal tech company that revealed a scenario where AI analyses video calls with clients and generates initial contract drafts immediately after the call. This use of AI significantly accelerated the process, which once took several days and involved several junior lawyers. The future of Generative AI is a journey filled with potential, innovation, and transformative possibilities.”