Tech Companies Race to Develop Generative AI Products for Businesses

AT&T, one of the largest telecommunications providers in the US, has adopted Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Services to develop its own A.I.-powered chatbot called Ask AT&T. The move came after AT&T noticed its developers using the publicly available ChatGPT chatbot to troubleshoot and improve their code. As businesses seek to harness the power of generative artificial intelligence (A.I.), technology companies like Amazon, Box, Cisco, Salesforce, and Oracle are racing to develop generative A.I.-powered products that automate various tasks ranging from coding to document analysis. Microsoft, having invested $13 billion in OpenAI, is leading the way by making its A.I. services available to customers to develop their own versions of the technology. However, the adoption of generative A.I. comes with risks, including inaccuracies, misinformation, and data leakage. Due to these concerns, tech companies are taking steps to protect customer data, such as not retaining it in generative A.I. models. Although generative A.I. is currently used mainly in low-risk workplace scenarios, experts suggest that organizations need to prepare their workforce for new kinds of work that may evolve with the technology. Panasonic, a Japanese electronics company, has also leveraged Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service to develop a chatbot that is now used by various departments within the organization for tasks like drafting emails, writing code, and summarizing legal documents. Other leading tech companies are expected to invest further in A.I. development and introduce more generative A.I.-powered products for businesses in the coming months.