In 2024, corporate investment in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is approaching $14 billion, indicating strong market demand. However, according to a survey by the venture capital firm Menlo Ventures, many companies remain confused about how to effectively utilize generative AI (Gen AI).
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“More than a third of respondents indicated that they do not have a clear vision for implementing generative AI,” noted Tim Tully, Joff Redfern, and investor Derek Xiao from Menlo Ventures in their report. The survey was conducted from September to October 2023, with 600 IT decision-makers participating.
Despite the uncertainty, the report titled "2024: The State of Generative AI in Enterprises" shows a positive attitude towards AI among businesses. The authors mentioned, “72% of decision-makers expect generative AI tools to see broader adoption in the near future.” The report indicated that total spending in 2024 is expected to reach $13.8 billion, a more than sixfold increase from $2.3 billion in 2023, in addition to AI chips from companies like Nvidia.
Among these, foundational models (such as language models developed by Anthropic and OpenAI) have become the largest investment area, with spending surging from $1 billion in 2023 to $6.8 billion. In terms of applications, investment has increased eightfold to $4.6 billion, covering vertical AI, departmental AI, and horizontal AI categories.
The rapid growth of applications indicates that companies are leveraging these tools to optimize workflows across various industries, driving broader innovation. Key application scenarios mentioned in the report include code generation (e.g., Microsoft's GitHub Copilot), supporting chatbots, enterprise search, and auto-generating meeting summaries.
In terms of market competition, the authors pointed out that Anthropic is gradually gaining market share, increasing its share in the enterprise market from 12% to 24%, while OpenAI's market share has decreased from 50% to 34%. This shows an increasing acceptance of emerging AI models among enterprises.
The report concludes with three predictions for the future: first, AI agents will “disrupt” the $400 billion enterprise software market; second, traditional software companies may face challenges from AI-native enterprises; third, with the widespread adoption of AI systems, there will be a significant demand for data scientists and domain experts, leading to talent shortages and substantial salary increases.
Key Points:
📈 Corporate investment in AI is expected to surge to $13.8 billion in 2024, more than six times last year's figure.
🤖 More than a third of companies have yet to clarify their generative AI implementation strategies, but 72% of decision-makers are optimistic about future applications.
🚀 AI agents are expected to disrupt the traditional software market, leading to increased talent competition for businesses.
