NAVIGATING THE AI REVOLUTION: EMBRACING CHANGE IN AN EVOLVING LANDSCAPE

In an era driven by technological advancements, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force across various sectors. The rapid growth and potential of AI have sparked debates about its disruptive nature and the extent to which it will reshape industries. As we stand at the threshold of an AI revolution, understanding its implications and possibilities becomes crucial for businesses and investors. In this article, we will explore the impact of AI on different sectors, delving into its potential to revolutionize traditional practices while addressing the concerns surrounding its adoption. By gaining insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by AI, we can navigate this evolving landscape and make informed decisions that will shape the future of our investments. 

Skeptical about the power of AI to compete with human intelligence? Could you tell that everything you have read so far was generated by a computer?  

What is AI in the first place and how did it become such a hot topic? 

When discussing AI, it’s essential to note that we are not referring to just another software or technological tool designed to automate processes or simplify specific tasks. The remarkable distinction lies in the very name itself – Artificial Intelligence. AI has the ability to process huge amounts of data in a short amount of time in order to draw logical conclusions, and operate independently. One milestone, that significantly increased public awareness and understanding of the capabilities of AI-powered software, was the introduction of OpenAI’s AI-driven Chatbot, ChatGBT on November 30th, 2022. While AI has been in existence for decades, the launch of ChatGPT brought the topic into main stream consciousness when it took the world by storm, setting the record for the fastest growing user base with over 100mn monthly active users just two months after launch. While ChatGPT has just been used as a human like robot chatbot, since its launch it has seen a proliferation of use cases from planning and scheduling vacations to writing job descriptions, just to name a few.  

However, it’s not just Open AI and ChatGPT that have the power to disrupt; the overall AI market is projected to grow to over $300 billion by 2026 with the potential to revolutionise across industries and sectors. Exploring how AI can reshape different fields allows us to better comprehend the magnitude of its potential impact. 

Transforming Healthcare: Unleashing the potential Power of AI to transform the medical sector 

With the healthcare industry facing serious challenges regarding understaffing and overworked personnel, AI has the potential to drastically revolutionize the healthcare sector worldwide. Solving problems and tasks in a more efficient way and in less time than humans are able to do so, are some of the biggest opportunities in the field of Artificial Intelligence. In addition, AI does not only operate efficiently and rapidly but also with exceptional precision and accuracy. Tasks such as processing and analyzing medical data or monitoring vital parameters are areas where AI can compete with humans.  For instance, deep tech VC Apex Ventures (of which Q ·Advisers is a strategic investor) has invested into Quibim, a prominent medical imaging analysis company utilizing AI to support imaging biomarkers integration. Thus, working to improve medical diagnostic abilities. In another use case that moves beyond benefits of precision, accuracy and speed, Brian Burke from Gartner Research VP for Technology Innovation believes “new drugs and materials systematically discovered using generative AI techniques are expected to go up to 30% up from zero today”. Here we can see that the impact that AI can bring to the field of medicine can be truly immense, and while we know that AI will never truly replace doctors who are equipped with needed human qualities such as emotional intelligence and human compassion, we do believe it will be a powerful tool in assisting and supporting medical practitioners deliver quality healthcare. 

Unlocking Investment Potential: Examining the Role of AI Tools and in Financial Decision-making 

The disruption by AI, in this field has already begun, evidenced by the emergence of several AI-driven tools that simulate the role of a portfolio manager or stock assistant. Traditionally we largely relied on investment professionals to make decisions or at least assist us in making one. Now, tools like StockGPT leverage AI’s ability to analyze and process financial data, enabling them to forecast potential scenarios and outcomes. That and similar tools, are already reshaping the landscape of stock forecasting by providing advanced AI-driven assistance. In another instance Systematic Ventures is an New York based company that delivers proprietary forecasts on private companies and deep analysis on industries and investors based on processes and systems that are also AI driven. They both utilize AI to process financial data and formulate investment suggestions and ultimately support investors in their investment decision making processes. Systematic Ventures goes even one step further by not only analyzing numbers and financial data but also looking qualitative data such as team dynamics and the speed of fundraising of a company.   

Thus, we now have new ways of making informed investment decisions and even though we must acknowledge that the accuracy of the provided forecasts are yet to be evaluated and capital is always at risk, AI provides huge potential to revolutionize traditional investment decision making processes.  

The Crucial Risk: Ensuring Trustworthy and Accurate Information from AI 

When seeking answers to our questions, we have traditionally relied on generally trusted sources such as respected news channels, published papers, journals and other generally accepted sources. In recent years, with the rise of the internet and platforms like Wikipedia, access to information has grown. What sets these sources apart from tools such as Chat GPT however, is the ability to trace and crosscheck the origins of the information provided. With AI however, we often must place complete trust in the dataset that the software is trained on, without visibility into its specific content and potential bias. For reference, ChatGPT has been trained on an extensive dataset with estimates suggesting that over 300bn words were fed into the system from books, websites, and other digitally available sources of content. However, we do not have access to the raw data from which it was trained and thus, cannot see its sources. 

 A recent incident in a courtroom serves as a cautionary example. In this case, a lawyer relied on ChatGPT to research legal precedents that would support their client’s case. However, after being presented in court, the information turned out to be inaccurate. Now the legal team faces their own court hearing and claim they were ‘unaware that [ Chat GPT’s] content count be false’.  This highlights the importance of exercising caution when relying solely on AI-generated information and emphasizes the need for human verification and critical assessment in critical situations such as legal proceedings. However, it is not only verifying the data on reliability that is important.  The USC Information Sciences Institute studied several AI datasets and found that more than 1/3 of the data they looked at faced bias such as bias regarding gender, race, and religion.  Considering the pervasive reach of AI across industries, this bias is significant and should be duly noted and worked against.  

AI: Unbridled potential? 

It is vital to recognize the importance of understanding the risks and opportunities presented by AI. There is no doubt that AI has the potential to impact our lives even more than it already does. In fact, it is possible that we are currently just looking at the tip of the iceberg.  While some may fear that computers overtake humanity, some of the more pressing and immediate concerns certainly include the imbedded bias in data and data manipulation, as well as the accuracy of information analyzed and presented. As with all disruptive technologies, there are hurdles and barriers, but our bet is that this is just the beginning of an AI revolution. 

 By Marco Gragger:  

Marco Gragger is a first year student studying Business Administration at Vienna University of Economics and Business. As part of a summer internship program, Marco researched the topic of AI and shared his thoughts above.