So, is it just a glorified autocomplete or the most significant development in human history since the release of the graphical user interface or the iPhone? The inaugural Generative AI Summit 2023 held in Sydney last month heard from different points of view on business uptake including input from entities such as NAB, Optus and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

A recent survey of global executives in data, IT, AI, security and marketing conducted by VentureBeat found more than half (54.6%) of organizations are experimenting with generative artificial intelligence (generative AI), while a few (18.2%) are already implementing it into their operations, but only a few (18.2%) expect to spend more on the technology in the year ahead.

Kicking off the conference, Dr Michael Kollo from AI consulting firm Evolved Reasoning set the scene by looking at the economic and industry impacts of Generative AI.

The fastest growing app in the world ever since its launch in November 2022, ChatGPT is developing fast but can only infer truth from semantic relationships.

“Language Models can learn to reason through replication of language, but they are poor at analytical tasks unless assisted by other systems.  They are optimised for engagement not truth,” he said.

Kollo sees ChatGPT’s potential as a business augmentation tool which can reduce time spent on writing tasks by 37%.

“Impact is primarily in the drafting stage and brainstorming. Overall quality of output and job satisfaction are raised,” he said.

The key areas of impact in the BackOffice are expected to be in staff training, Knowledge Management, Compliance and HR Policies and Training.

“ChatGPT can be programmed with the latest regulatory standards and requirements and can then be used as a tool to ensure compliance. It can provide reminders of important deadlines, assist with the preparation of compliance reports, and help to answer questions about complex regulations.”

A new report says Australia’s professional and financial services sector could unlock billions of dollars in value by 2030 if it accelerates the responsible adoption of generative artificial intelligence (GAI).

The report, Australia’s Generative AI Opportunity, is a collaboration between Microsoft and the Tech Council of Australia. It shows that GAI could contribute between $45 billion and $115 billion a year to Australia’s economy by 2030 through two major channels: improving existing industries and enabling the creation of new products and services.

Professional and financial services are identified as one of the four key sectors of the Australian economy that are poised to benefit from GAI. The report demonstrates that the technology could contribute between $5 billion and $13 billion annually to the sector in Australia by 2030.

A recent survey undertaken in 2023 by the University of Queensland and KPMG  found Trust in AI systems in Australia was extremely low in comparison to other countries around the world. In fact, Australia was ranked lowest in terms of perception of the trustworthiness and perceived benefits of AI systems.

Howard Silby, Chief Innovation Officer, National Australia Bank expects the release of Microsoft Copilot tools in Office365, scheduled to happen by the end of 2023, will show up as a large change for the general workforce.

Although he expressed significant reservations about the use of generative AI in interactions with bank customers.

“We can’t afford to be wrong one in 10,000 times or even one in 50,000 times.”

He also pointed out that new skills will be required, as for instance prompt engineering, the ability to design queries that deliver the optimal answer from ChatGPT, is very different to undertaking an effective Google search.

“It is a skill we will need to learn to get the best result,” said Silby.

Optus has deployed Google AI on its own private data in a partnership with Google Cloud to enhance its call centres with the Contact Centre AI (CCAI) solution.

Dan Chesterman, ASX Group Executive Technology and Data and Chief Information Officer, was asked about the potential for business use of Generative AI.

He admitted that while pretty much every aspect of share trading today is touched by AI, he  considered tools such as ChatGPT only showed potential as a research assistant.

“Our analysts receive 15,000 announcements from listed companies each year and must make a quick assessment whether it is significant enough to put a halt to trading. Our analysts are experts and tools like Copilot may be a help in comparing these with previous announcements made by the same company, but won’t replace them.”

On average, an AI project brings $A361k incremental revenue to an organisation, according to Stela Solar, Director – National Artificial Intelligence Centre, CSIRO's Data61.

Sola was quoting from Australia's AI ecosystem momentum report, commissioned earlier this year.

It concluded that Australian businesses have access to the foundations to start taking advantage of AI but the partner and support ecosystem in Australia needs to mature.