The hype around generative AI is persisting among tech leaders despite uncertainty about its value and impact on the bottom line.
“I think about it as the next internet,” said Expedia Group CTO Rathi Murthy. “Nobody quite knows what we want to do with it, but we all know it’s going to explode.”
Generative AI unexpectedly was a topic of discussion at a tech leadership event last week hosted by the Harvard Business School Club of Seattle that included Murthy; Remitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer; startup veteran Dave Cotter; and Anthony Diamond, new ventures lead at Pioneer Square Labs. BECU CEO Beverly Anderson moderated the discussion.
Expedia has been using generative AI across its business in various ways. The Seattle-based company released a ChatGPT travel planning tool last year and is using generative AI to boost search and reviews capabilities, Murthy said.
“We don’t want to be left behind,” she said. “We want to get a foot in there, learn, set ourselves up, build a culture — so we’re ready for that tsunami when it comes to grow.”
Generative AI reached the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” portion of Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies graph in August. Amazon Web Services chief Adam Selipsky recently compared the current moment to the dot-com bubble.
Companies of all sizes are trying to figure out how much time and money to sink into the new tech.
“As the technologies in this Hype Cycle are still at an early stage, there is significant uncertainty about how they will evolve,” said Gartner vice president Melissa Davis. “Such embryonic technologies present greater risks for deployment, but potentially greater benefits for early adopters.”
Oppenheimer said technology cycles that aren’t rooted in solving customer problems can cause a bubble. He saw this with the ups and downs of cryptocurrency, an industry he watched closely given that Remitly operates a digital remittance platform.
“When crypto came out, I was more concerned that there was a little bit more hype than substance,” Oppenheimer said. “With AI, I feel very differently. There are so many logical connections and problems that AI can solve.”
Oppenheimer pointed to customer support automation as one application of generative AI for Remitly’s business. He also said AI and machine learning can help with preventing fraud.
Technology disruptions are not new, but the pace of AI development and adoption sets it apart from past cycles.
“It’s evolving at a mind-boggling rate,” Cotter said.
Murthy said being able to push innovation forward but also maintain stability within a company is a balancing act.
“It’s like changing the tires while the car is running,” she said.
That’s where startups have an advantage in adopting technology such as generative AI — they can move faster.
Larger companies may be also more risk-averse, especially as it relates to the customer experience.
“The trust that you’ve built, the brand — you can lose it in an instant by making a mistake,” said BECU’s Anderson.
Murthy, who has helped oversee a technology transformation at Expedia, said some areas of a company have more capacity to test and iterate.
“You’ve got to take calculated risks,” she said.
