01 Tech Trend

GenAI will fast expand into B2B with NLIs, custom LLMs, tailored applications and business context

Most organizations have one year or less to implement AI before falling behind according to the Cisco AI Readiness Index. In 2024, natural language interfaces (NLIs) powered by GenAI will be expected for new products and services. More than half will have this by default, enabling natural language interactions and boosting observability for AI usage, cost, and experience. GenAI will also be leveraged by B2B interactions and providers, as users demand more contextualized, personalized, and integrated solutions. GenAI will offer APIs, interfaces, and services to access, analyze, and visualize data and insights. GenAI will be pervasive across business applications such as project management, software quality and testing, compliance assessments, and recruitment efforts. This will increase the need of observability for AI usage, cost, and experience.

The demand for customized GenAI large language models (LLMs) will increase as businesses seek more control and flexibility over training, data retention, and expendability processes. Organizations will adapt LLMs for their own data, fine-tuning parameters, and model scaling. General-purpose language models can be adapted for tasks like sentiment analysis and entity recognition, and systems can use external sources for accuracy and to avoid ‘hallucinations’ as with Retrieval Augmented Generation which can be fine-tuned and updated without model retraining. We will also see the rise of specialized AI models and LLMs with better accuracy and precision in areas such as code completion or few-shotting image classification. Moreover, multi-modal combination of data types such as images, text, speech, and numerical with multiple algorithms will expand into areas such as business planning, medical, and finance.

The clock is ticking for businesses to implement their AI strategy and 61% of them expect to face serious consequences within a year if they fail. One of the 2024 trends to watch is the fast expansion of GenAI into the business world with GenAI-powered NLIs, customized LLMs, tailored B2B applications and business context.

As GenAI becomes more advanced and accessible, organizations will look to adapt generative AI LLMs for their specific needs and preferences such as using their own private data, fine-tuning parameters, and scaling the models up or down.

Carlos Pereira, Cisco Fellow and Chief Architect, Strategy, Applications, Emerging Technologies and Incubation