Hype around generative AI ‘out of control’, claims Gartner

The hype around generative AI (genAI) among companies and individuals "has gotten out of control," according to Gartner's senior director of analytics and AI, Peter Krensky.

Speaking at a press conference in São Paulo on Tuesday, Krensky said that use of genAI at the corporate level is not possible anymore without governance, compliance and quality data.

“GenAI is a huge deal. It's a disruption at the level of the internet, personal computer and social media and it’s not possible at all without quality data," said the analyst.

In general, Gartner foresees an increase in clashes in companies between security and legal teams on the one hand and analytics and data teams on the other.

In a Gartner survey conducted in 4Q23 with 477 data and analytics officers from around the world, including in Latin America, 53% of the respondents said they were committed to genAI. 

However, in a previous survey in 2Q23, more than half of the 615 CIOs and technology leaders consulted said they were not sure that their organizations would be able to mitigate the risks of AI.

The consultancy says data and analytics leaders must focus on "collective intelligence" to foster business value and data maturity. To Gartner, collective intelligence, driven by genAI, means combining the problem-solving skills of humans and machines. 

During the opening keynote speech at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit in São Paulo, VP analyst Kurt Schlegel and senior director analyst Aura Popa said that data executives would have an increasingly important role to play at companies given these dynamics.

Fueled by artificial intelligence, Gartner also forecasts that 90% of business intelligence (BI) users will also become content creators by 2025.

“This is fantastic. It opens up the possibility of creating great value, but it also brings enormous challenges for governance and cybersecurity. Do these people accessing this data within organizations have the appropriate credentials and rights? How is this gigantic analytical content being worked on inside and outside organizations?” Gartner analyst Edgar Macari said during a press conference.

ROLES

Krensky claims that genAI is leading to growing demand for new specializations in governance that are currently lacking within organizations. 

These include financial-oriented governance, with professionals monitoring genAI systems for their financial activity, he said, adding that there are also too few regulatory, compliance and legal governance specialists, who are trained to look beyond data protection requirements established by existing frameworks such as Europe's GDPR or Brazil’s LGDP.

These new professionals would instead have to incorporate the new requirements from EU’s new AI regulation or US executive orders on the topic.

“Companies will need to have professionals monitoring all of the generative AI happening in organizations, ensuring compliance with these laws and regulations, and avoiding very substantial fines, much like the fines around GDPR,” Krensky said.