GenAI Is Just A Bunch Of Pilot Schemes Right Now
Over the past twenty years, community professionals have had plenty of new technologies to get hyped about. Gamification, blockchain, web 3.0, and more all promised so much and delivered so little.
Will Generative AI (artificial intelligence systems that can create new content, such as text, images, or music, based on patterns learned from existing data) prove to be any different? Judging by the $1.4 trillion investment major tech companies are predicted to make in GenAI by 2027, it certainly seems so.
But, despite all the hype, are community teams incorporating GenAI into their community workflows, and what benefits are they getting from it?
Over the past month we gathered the views of over a hundred enterprise community professionals in our first ‘GenAI in Communities’ survey. You can see the results here:
(to view in full screen – click on the 3 vertical dots above and select ‘enter full screen’).
Waiting On Vendors To Roll Out GenAI Features
Our report shows we’re in the experimentation phase of this new technology with positive impacts, but we don’t have the skills and knowledge to fully embrace it.
Most professionals have used AI, at least personally, to support the community, but few organisations have embraced GenAI as part of their everyday workflow.
While those who have dabbled with GenAI have been broadly satisfied with the results, their plans for broader use of GenAI are held back by a lack of expertise, an inability to integrate GenAI into their existing technologies, and legal concerns.
This means we’re waiting to see what the major enterprise platform vendors offer before deciding how we can best incorporate it into our activities.
A few months ago, I predicted this would be the year enterprise vendors would have to show their hands with GenAI plans.
However, community professionals are surprisingly optimistic about the potential of GenAI. Only a minority believe traffic to their enterprise community will decline. The majority of community pros believe that GenAI will have have an overall positive impact on their community efforts.
You Don’t Need To Worry About GenAI Just Yet
GenAI probably is a game-changing technology, but it’s not easy to predict how or where it will have the biggest impact.
As others have noted, not all the initial pilot schemes have shown positive results. Several have been rolled back.
Predicting when or where GenAI will impact an enterprise community is a fool’s errand. Run pilot schemes if you want to test the waters, but most community professionals should stay focused on doing what they do best – improving their communities.
Once the contours of the future become clear, and vendors begin rolling out AI-infused updates, test the waters and see whether members are having a better experience.
