St. Louis executives declare AI will transform business landscapes, emphasizing, “The future is different.”
In MARYLAND HEIGHTS, a groundbreaking idea emerged just over a year ago, during the 2022 holiday break. The release of ChatGPT by OpenAI marked a significant advancement in artificial intelligence technology. IT and tech company employees began to explore the program during the holidays, leading to widespread discussions about ChatGPT upon their return to work, as recalled by Tim Denny, vice president at World Wide Technology’s Advanced Technology Center in Maryland Heights.
Aaron Freidenberg, the center’s director, tested ChatGPT’s ability to quickly provide statistics on St. Louis Cardinals icon Albert Pujols. Its rapid response and user-friendliness, accessible to not just experts, captivated the tech community, placing generative AI atop the priority list for World Wide’s clientele, mainly large Fortune 1000 corporations.
“Everyone was experimenting individually, and that’s when we started to see the future differently,” Denny noted.
Over the next year, firms throughout the St. Louis area, spanning various sectors, began evaluating how generative AI could enhance their operations or give them a competitive advantage, weighing both the opportunities and risks.
In December, World Wide Technology announced a $500 million investment over three years to foster AI adoption among its clients.
From tech firms like World Wide Technology to hospitals, manufacturers, investment firms, and agricultural suppliers, all sectors started envisioning ways to streamline routine tasks for employees and improve access to information for workers and customers alike.
Emerson, a Ferguson-based industrial automation leader, plans to use generative AI for language translation, as explained by Clint Schneider, Emerson’s digital services, cloud, and AI director. This technology could enable a California-based expert in control valves to assist customers globally, including in South Korea.
Generative AI could also aid newly hired sales staff at Emerson to understand product lines more comprehensively than traditional search engines.
Similarly, Bayer’s Crop Science Division is developing a generative AI prototype to assist farmers with agricultural decisions, enhancing the ease of data comprehension and query responsiveness, according to Nitin Nahata, senior engineering director at Bayer’s digital farming branch, Climate.
Nalini Polavarapu, vice president of enterprise analytics and data science at Bayer, emphasized the democratization of AI usage, enabling individuals with domain knowledge to explore new applications.
The surge in AI adoption has prompted executives to consider its impact on their businesses, mindful of legal and ethical concerns, including intellectual property use and the generation of inaccurate data.
Emerson adopted a cautious approach, advising employees on the potential training implications for ChatGPT and implementing a governance team to oversee AI utilization and mitigate unintended risks.
Other organizations are similarly cautious. Mercy hospital system, for example, introduced a chatbot for patient inquiries and is developing an internal AI “code of conduct.”
World Wide Technology has instituted an “AI driver’s license” program to educate its workforce on technology usage responsibly.
With these precautions, firms are exploring how generative AI can revolutionize business practices, focusing on efficiency and informed decision-making.
Despite the excitement, the transition to AI-driven operations will be gradual. Kirk McDonald, a portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, shared his experiences with AI tools in investment analysis, highlighting the technology’s potential and limitations.
McDonald and his colleague Bill Weeks acknowledged that while AI tools offer new capabilities, they cannot replace human judgment, underscoring the importance of continued exploration and adaptation to harness AI’s benefits effectively.
