The rise of generative artificial intelligence using large-scale language models could spark a wave of entrepreneurship in the UK.
That’s the view of Matt Hammond, founder of Talk Think Do, who says UK tech companies are seeing increased demand for AI services as entrepreneurs and start-ups from a range of sectors look to how the latest technology can bring their business ideas to life.
The UK AI market is worth more than £16.8 billion and is expected to grow to £802 billion by 2035. According to government research, around one in six UK organisations currently use at least one AI technology, with businesses across a range of sectors and sizes embracing AI.
The industries with the highest adoption of this technology are IT & Communications, Finance and Legal, while the lowest adoption rates are in Hospitality, Healthcare and Retail.
“While many businesses are interested in how GenAI can help them improve their operations, entrepreneurs are now looking at the technology as the foundation for entirely new businesses,” the software architect said.
One San Francisco example is Nanonets, which recently closed a $29 million Series B funding round. The company’s technology automates time-consuming, manual processes like invoice processing and expense management.
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“It’s clear that the innovation and increased efficiency that AI brings to new businesses can enable startups like Nanonets to grow rapidly. With the use of AI, we’ve seen our user base grow fourfold in the past year,” Hammond said.
“Many people are turning to generative AI to build expert systems that leverage research and policy documents to provide guidance and insights. We recently held a hackathon to do just that, creating proof-of-concept software that uses academic research and statistics to identify the physical and social health benefits of specific leisure activities, allowing governments to allocate funding in a more targeted way.”
“We have also seen examples of using generative AI to prove the effectiveness of training.
“There’s also a specific use case where transcriptions of customer service calls are utilized to help train human agents. The software analyzes the responses, provides coaching and tips, and also generates realistic simulated support queries.”
The impact of AI goes far beyond startups, Hammond said: US giants FedEx and Sprint are now using AI-powered predictive analytics to optimize customer retention strategies.
By identifying customers at risk of churn and tailoring campaigns and communications to their needs, these businesses aim to stay ahead in today’s competitive market environment.
“Generative AI is likely to have the greatest impact on the workforce and how we function as a society,” Hammond said. “We’re already witnessing this at scale as businesses change and improve the way they communicate with customers. The emergence of GenAI-powered tools is essentially revolutionizing customer service, including the rapid development of chatbots.”
“GenAI is also used to summarize conversations between callers and customer agents, a process that previously involved manual note-taking and took a significant amount of time.
“By automating previously time-consuming tasks, companies can free up their employees to focus on providing valuable, customized insights to their customers, which often enables companies to grow faster while providing superior service.”
“As we navigate the opportunities and challenges that AI brings, one thing is clear: the transformative potential this technology offers for many businesses is unparalleled.”
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