Businesses that have invested heavily in generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) are seeing direct results on their profitability, according to research by the consultancy Mckinsey.

While those organisations represented only a small sample of the overall group in the survey, the results suggest that those businesses are using gen AI in more business functions and paying closer attention to risk management.

More areas

For example, high performers used gen AI in an average of three rather than two functions. And they are more likely to use them in areas outside of marketing, sales, and product or service development – the most common areas. They also use them in risk, legal and compliance; strategy and corporate finance; and supply chain and inventory management. 

They are also customising the software. “While, overall, about half of reported gen AI applications within business functions are utilizing publicly available models or tools,” the report said, “gen AI high performers are less likely to use those off-the-shelf options than to either implement significantly customized versions of those tools or to develop their own proprietary foundation models.”

A greater proportion of such early adopters have also experienced every negative consequence from gen AI they were asked about – from cybersecurity and personal privacy issues to explainability and IP infringement. Not surprisingly, they have better risk processes around the use of such technologies.

Risk mitigation

For example, these companies were twice as likely (68 per cent) to have gen AI risk awareness and mitigation as required skills for technical staff than other respondents (34 per cent). They also had clear processes for embedding risk mitigations into their processes (44 per cent) compared to other respondents (23 per cent).

“High performers, are significantly more likely than others to embed testing and validation in the release process for models, as well as to develop clear processes to iteratively improve model outputs,” Bryce Hall, associate partner at Mckinsey said. “Over time, these kinds of practices will become even more important, as highly customized and bespoke solutions are the ones that will truly be differentiating for companies.”