Opinion In the new year, AI will reshape the technology industry and its relationship with the masses

First, AI will fundamentally change how we create and consume information. Visual and textual creativity will soar. Just as the internet made it possible for anyone to publish online, ChatGPT will make it possible for anybody to be a poet, writer, or artist. The fear that this will replace writers and artists is misguided. Rather, AI will make the creative business more accessible to those who are devoid of resources and enhance the talent of writers and artists.

Second, knowledge workers will be impacted in fundamental ways. So far, programmers, copywriters, and others have largely been shielded from the impact of computerisation and globalisation. AI has the potential to make them obsolete.

But will the accessibility of this technology equalise competition among small companies and big technology monopolies? Or will AI make the behemoths larger, richer, and even stronger? We may see a repeat of the advertising-driven internet, where the benefits were largely reaped by a handful of companies. Moreover, as Large Language Models (LLMs) get commoditised and startup competitors leveraging open APIs become a threat to larger players, big tech companies will likely move to close their API. A system where a few people control technology will hamper progress for all others. Fortunately, there are several organisations like Stable Diffusion, EleutherAI, and Neeva that are working to expand the benefits of AI for everyone.

At Neeva, we are harnessing the power of AI to transform search from a variety of ten links for every search to a personalised experience that uses ChatGPT for quick, precise, and thorough results. Expect to see exciting product innovations that make it easier to get trustworthy and real-time information that is easy to consume.

As with all rapidly changing fields, there is a lot of uncertainty. AI will impact products, services, and the viability of companies alike. The current AI landscape is complex. Over the next year, expect to see corporate battles, consolidation, and splintering across the space. We may witness the collision of large cloud computing companies like Amazon with AI model players like OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, and AI21. As bigger companies race to catch up, large acquisitions and investments will be discussed to develop AI technology in-house.

Moreover, smaller companies looking to take advantage of AI will be tasked with formulating a strategy to decide whether to invest in technology or build a sustainable business on top of the foundational API players. At Neeva, we strongly believe in owning our technology. Companies such as Jasper and Copy.AI that rely on APIs to stitch together end-user solutions could face a threat to their survival if a) foundation model players remove their access to data or; b) decide to take part in the field or; c) begin demanding excessive fees to use that data. Meanwhile, companies such as SalesForce, ServiceNow, and UIPath that work on improving efficiency for corporations may find themselves losing business due to the risk of automation.

Whatever the outcome, only time will tell. But expect 2023 to be one of the most exciting years for the technology industry in more than a decade. AI is here to stay and we are privileged to be able to participate in this transformative moment.

Ramaswamy and Raghunathan are co-founders of the search engine Neeva, which is powered by AI technology