The AI Journey: Where Will AI Take Us in 2024?

22 February 2024 / Brief

An analysis of 40 artificial intelligence (AI)-related topics discussed in 2023 by 25 Councils at The Conference Board revealed a shift from fascination to practical use; and a growing focus on risk, ethics, and compliance. The discussions held by the Councils, which are closely linked to global business trends, reflect AI's integration into mainstream corporate practices and offer insight into how the corporate learning curve of AI adoption is likely to unfold in 2024.

Trusted Insights for What’s Ahead™

AI’s evolution from an exciting novelty to a robust enterprise asset reflects a maturing outlook among businesses. Initially surrounded by high expectations and fears in early 2023, companies now recognize the need for careful implementation of the technology, and the prioritization of workforce training and ethical practices. To harness AI’s full potential, leaders are advised to integrate continuous learning programs, establish clear ethical guidelines, and adapt to emerging regulations. This will ensure that AI’s power is matched by the responsibility to use it wisely.
AI will become a core business tool in 2024, evolving from a novel concept to a driver of efficiency and smart decision-making. The way people interact with computers will shift dramatically, moving away from using specific applications for different tasks to interacting with AI agents that understand our commands in natural language and can perform a wide variety of tasks based on a deep understanding of our personal lives.
“Voice-first AI”¹will transform corporate interactions, facilitating a shift from app navigation to intuitive, conversation-driven workflows. As AI evolves to understand and execute tasks from voice, pattern, and video inputs, businesses will transition from being data-driven to insight-driven. The corporate world is expected to embrace voice-first technology as a cornerstone of interactions with AI. To capitalize on this shift, companies need to start adapting their processes to integrate multimodal AI technologies, and prepare employees for a future where voice commands direct complex operations and decision-making.
AI will autonomously steer complex decisions—from market analysis to strategic planning—with minimal human input. As AI grows more intuitive and transparent, AI agents will earn a place as trusted advisors in corporate strategy, ensuring businesses operate not just with efficiency but with foresight and adaptability. Businesses should embrace these autonomous systems, and prepare to leverage AI as both a practical tool for efficiency and a strategic advisor for long-term adaptability.
Generative AI systems with retrieval augmented generation (RAG)² capabilities will be a game-changer for support functions, offering scalable, secure, and customized solutions. This technology—a technique for enhancing the accuracy and reliability of generative AI models with information extracted from external sources—will free teams from administrative tasks and enable them to focus on strategic work. Businesses should prepare for this shift by integrating generative AI into their processes to ensure that they will be able to fully leverage its capabilities to enhance efficiency and decision-making across operations.

¹Voice-first AI refers to artificial intelligence technologies and applications designed with voice as the primary interface for interaction, rather than traditional input methods like typing or clicking. In voice-first AI systems, users interact with technology through spoken commands, questions, or conversational dialogue.

² RAG functions as a smart assistant that can access and understand detailed reports. By uploading long documents to a conversational AI, an executive can initiate interactive discussions about the content of these documents. The assistant AI will provide informed responses as if it has read and comprehended the entire report, facilitating quick and efficient insight extraction.