Month: November 2023

Authors: Jonathan Davis (Partner, EMEA), Kevin Moore (Managing Director, US), Daniel Hart (Vice President, EMEA)

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force, revolutionizing various industries. One of the most notable areas where AI is making a significant impact is software development. With the potential to enhance efficiency, elevate quality and drive innovation, AI is reshaping the way software is conceived, created, and deployed.

Key industry players are recognizing the immense potential of AI and are investing heavily to harness its capabilities.

Investment in AI by Industry Giants

The race to harness AI’s potential in software development is on and industry giants are leading the way. Accenture, a global consulting and professional services company, has unveiled plans to double its workforce of data and AI experts from 40,000 to 80,000. This expansion is backed by a $3 billion investment into its AI capabilities.

Infosys, a multinational corporation that provides IT services and consulting, has introduced Infosys Topaz, an AI-first suite of services, solutions, and platforms. By leveraging generative AI technologies, Topaz aims to transform the landscape of software development. Not to be left behind, Wipro has made a substantial $1 billion investment in digital transformation. Launching an AI-first innovation ecosystem, Wipro has set its sights on training 250,000 employees in AI.

These investments underscore the industry’s recognition of AI’s potential and the commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancement.

Key themes that are reshaping the industry

Automating tasks for enhanced productivity – AI is taking over the mundane and repetitive tasks that have long been a part of software development. The process of code generation, testing and deployment can now be automated, allowing developers to focus on more creative and strategic endeavors. Not only does this streamline the development process, but it also translates to reduced costs, improved software quality with fewer bugs and enhanced security. This will result in faster delivery times and more efficient allocation of resources.

Elevating software quality with AI – Buggy software can lead to disastrous outcomes, both in terms of user experience and reputation. AI has the capability to identify and rectify bugs, ensuring a higher quality end product. Moreover, AI can make recommendations for better coding practices, optimizing the software’s performance.

This not only reduces the risk of software failures but also enhances the user experience. The lowered barriers for new developers to enter the market will also benefit small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), expanding opportunities for growth and further democratizing the use of AI in software development.

Personalized user experience through AI – Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all software. AI empowers developers to personalize software for individual users. By analyzing vast data sets, including user preferences and behaviors, AI can recommend features, functionalities and even tailor the user interface. This results in an improved user experience and leveled playing field to deliver bespoke software solutions.

Predictive insights for informed development – AI’s predictive capabilities are invaluable for software developers. By analyzing trends and forecasting future developments, developers can incorporate AI assisted predictive logic into code to help make informed decisions and plan ahead. This not only enhances the return on investment but also mitigates the risk of obsolescence. Software projects can adapt and evolve in tandem with technological shifts, ensuring long-term relevance.

Multimodal methods: bridging the gap – The industry is witnessing a shift toward multimodal technologies that enable software development based on visual representations like drawings or wireframe blueprints, rather than solely relying on text and language-based interfaces. This innovation, with an increasing assist from AI tools, opens new doors for less technically skilled teams, fostering greater collaboration between various stages of development. The barriers between various development teams are being dismantled, leading to agile, streamlined processes from inception to the final product.

AI’s Co-Pilot role: enhancing human creativity

Amid the advancements of AI in software development, a central theme remains: AI is not here to replace human developers, but rather to augment their capabilities. Think of AI, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Amazon Q or Github CoPilot, as a coding AI assistant. It aids in generating boilerplate code, offering new ideas and automating routine tasks.

It is essential to note that the human touch is indispensable in understanding how to leverage AI’s insights and adapt them creatively to specific projects. As well as monitor for errors and prevent rogue code from being released.

The relationship between AI and human developers ensures that technology serves as a tool for innovation rather than a substitute for human expertise.

A glimpse into the future

As AI continues to evolve and redefine the landscape of software development, we stand at the brink of a new era. With investments pouring in from industry leaders like Accenture, Infosys, and Wipro, as well as every major enterprise software company, the potential for AI to revolutionize software development is unparalleled.

From automating tasks and elevating software quality to personalizing user experiences and enabling predictive insights, AI is ushering in a new wave of efficiency, creativity, and innovation. Developers are not being replaced by machines; rather, they are collaborating with AI to push the boundaries of what is possible. As we move forward, the harmony between human intellect and AI prowess promises to reshape the world of software as we know it.

We look forward to continuing the conversation as the AI-story unfolds. If you have any queries or would like to have an in depth discussion on this topic or the broader market please Contact us. Our next AI article delves into the world of Technology & Consulting Services.

Authors: San Datta (Partner, EMEA) & Kathleen Thomas (Managing Director, US)

The last year has seen the Events industry bounce back faster than anyone expected. The face-to face (F2F) industry, be it exhibitions, conferences, peer-to-peer or experiential has seen a surge in growth with events participants having a renewed appreciation of the value of F2F engagement in driving sales, networking, learning and collaboration.

While the fundamental allure of in-person interactions remains unchanged, the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is enabling a new era of enhanced experiences, efficient operations, and innovations within the industry.

The reasons that people attend events is unlikely to dramatically change due to AI advancements. AI technology is finding its stride in augmenting these connections, providing scope to deliver more innovative, cost effective, efficient, and tailored experiences.

AI-Powered Trends

Lead generation and qualification

A key part of AI’s potential impact on the events sector lies on its prowess in real-time crunching of huge amounts of data. The ability to aggregate and analyze diverse proprietary data sets (e.g. feedback, registrations, interactions, sales patterns) with third party unstructured data (e.g. social media activity and engagement) will allow rapid qualification, identification and prioritization of leads for exhibitors in advance and on the day to ultimately drive higher levels of engagement and conversion.  

Efficiencies through automation

The challenges of event planning – from registration and ticketing to speaker management and content production – are now prime candidates for AI-powered automation. Chatbots are emerging as versatile assistants, addressing attendee inquiries, processing payments, and distributing tickets. This automation will not only accelerate tasks but could free up event staff to focus on value-added endeavors. Eventex, for example, has already incorporated ChatGPT into its event management platform. Behind the scenes, event logistics are becoming more streamlined by AI tools that manage speaker availability, venue capacities and attendee preferences – helping organizers be more efficient.

Innovative and tailored event experiences

AI can also create new, innovative event experiences. While Generative AI based chatbots can drive efficiencies, they can also act as virtual concierges at events, providing attendees with instant and tailored guidance. Social media monitoring becomes a powerful tool to gauge attendee sentiment in real time, which could enable rapid interventions and elevate the overall event atmosphere. Facial recognition technology is being deployed to read attendee emotions, providing a new source of real-time data that paints a vivid picture of overall feeling, albeit at the risk of invading the privacy of attendees. All of these and more can potentially be combined with data based on footfall, visitor flow, content engagement, conference attendance and more. All of this data can then be used to optimize event dynamics on the fly.

Similarly, the advent of virtual and augmented reality offers novel opportunities for hybrid events that engage both on-site and remote participants. Through real-time translation of speeches and transcripts, audiences can be extended worldwide while on the ground, participants can be engaged more actively and creatively.

AI in set design testing becomes an agile playground for organizers, who can experiment with various layouts and ideas in a low-cost, nimble fashion. This innovation will help to precisely curate F2F experiences that cater to attendees’ needs and preferences.

Conclusion

Utilizing cutting-edge data analytics, seamless automation, and new innovations, AI is reshaping the landscape of events, transcending them beyond conventional gatherings. Participants can take part in captivating and tailored experiences, while event organizers have an opportunity to benefit from enhanced efficiencies and the invaluable insights that support an ongoing process of improvement.

Despite the continued integration of AI, the bedrock of success for any event remains rooted in authentic human connections, rendering the industry more robust against AI disruption.

As event organizers continue to amass operational efficiencies and AI technologies enhance the value proposition for attendees, the sector remains an attractive area to explore from an investment perspective.

We look forward to continuing the conversation as the AI-story unfolds. If you have any queries or would like to have an in depth discussion on this topic or the broader market please Contact us. Our next AI article delves into the world of Software Development.

Authors:  Scott Mozarsky (Managing Director, US) & San Datta (Partner, EMEA)

Generative AI represents the next, and potentially most meaningful, key stage of Artificial Intelligence impacting the legal market. Generative AI ushers in a new era of efficiency involving automating routine tasks, enhancing legal research, and reshaping how lawyers construct arguments. Its potential to unlock unprecedented insights, streamline contract management, and predict legal outcomes heralds a transformative journey that promises to redefine the legal landscape for lawyers and clients alike.

History of AI in the Legal Industry

AI has already had an undeniable impact on the legal industry. There have been several pivotal stages, from eDiscovery Technology Assisted Review (TAR) and Litigation Analytics to Document Automation and Contract Analytics, that are important to understand when considering the impact that we anticipate Generative AI will have on this market.

The legal world saw its first glimpse of AI’s potential back in 2005 with eDiscovery TAR, which introduced a future where artificial intelligence could perform document review by detecting patterns in documents, effectively optimizing the tedious discovery process. TAR has been a critical driver of eDiscovery ranging up to becoming a $20B industry. Despite the subsequent innovations, across the market TAR remains the largest and most successful example of AI’s impact on the legal market.

Fast forward to 2012, and the legal market began to witness the rise of litigation analytics. Litigation analytics involved leveraging AI to detect patterns in data coming out of dockets, and case law to deliver profound insights and analytics on law firms, companies, and judges. These analytics are used for business and practice of law purposes. At first, the market was dominated by companies like Bloomberg Law, Docket Alarm and Lex Machina, but now a diverse range of players, from established companies to nimble startups, offer litigation analytics.

The mid-2010s marked a period of transformation through document automation. Before the era of Generative AI, we witnessed automated form completion based on decision trees and app-driven expert systems. Neota Logic and LegalZoom were early disruptors across both B2B and B2C, while Legalmation led the way in providing automation of pleadings in litigation. Since then, no-code/low-code platforms have become increasingly popular, allowing users to deploy software applications without needing a technical background.

The impact of AI extended to contract analytics, encompassing everything from pre-execution contract analysis to contract lifecycle management. Pattern recognition AI technology, effectively the early TAR on steroids, laid the foundation for contract analytics. Not limited to just legal use cases, contract analytics also ventured into compliance and front of the house use cases. A surge in capital raises during 2019-2021, and early 2022 has led to inevitable market consolidation.

Generative AI: Shaping the Future

The arrival of Generative AI back in 2022 heralds a new era of efficiency and effectiveness for legal professionals. Lawyers can leverage AI to handle repetitive and lower-end tasks, freeing up invaluable time and resources for higher-complexity, value-added work. In-house legal groups are increasingly turning to AI and tech-enabled solutions instead of relying on outside counsel. These advancements are now bearing fruit for early adaptors.

Automated Legal Research and Analysis

Generative AI possesses the unparalleled ability to process vast volumes of data faster and more accurately than humans. It can extract relevant information, answer questions, and build robust legal arguments.

Litigation Moneyball

Legal professionals can use Generative AI to analyze data to identify high-value clients, predict likely outcomes and behaviors, and recommend case strategies and settlement analysis. This revolutionary technology is already transforming areas such as personal injury, class action, and mass torts.

Contract Generation and Management

Generative AI streamlines the process of drafting and negotiating contracts. It provides invaluable insights that have the potential to standardize certain contract types across the market.

Litigation Workflow Enhancement

The benefits of Generative AI extend to AI-generated case law summaries, accelerated document review and summarization, deposition preparation, and regulatory compliance. It even takes on tasks like automated transcription, brief preparation, and formatting.

Conclusion: Embracing the AI-Powered Future 

While we stand at the threshold of Generative AI’s influence in the legal market, its accuracy and adoption are still in the early stages. Yet, the trajectory is clear. Generative AI is poised to transform workflows, enhance efficiency, and empower lawyers to focus on the more strategic aspects of their profession. In the end, the synergy between human expertise and artificial intelligence is the way forward in the legal world.

M&A Role

Given the anticipated pace of transformation and the increasing adoption of Generative AI, we expect M&A to play a pivotal role in the legal market as firms look to gain a competitive edge. The table below includes AI-related transactions in 2023, which highlights this trend.

We look forward to continuing the conversation as the AI-story unfolds. If you have any queries or would like to have an in depth discussion on this topic or the broader market please Contact us. Our next AI article delves into the world of Events and Conferences.

Authors:  Jonathan Davis (Partner, EMEA), Daniel Hart (Vice President, EMEA), Adam Gross (Managing Director, US)

The worlds of CGI, Animation and VFX are undergoing transformation, fueled by the proliferation of generative AI content creation tools. This wave of innovation promises to streamline workflows, unleash creativity and elevate audience engagement like never before.

In this article, we delve into the cutting-edge developments in AI, explore the potential challenges of copyright and fair compensation and discuss how innovation is reshaping the industry’s landscape.

The AI Revolution in CGI, Animation and VFX

Generative AI is taking center stage with a host of new tools, such as MidJourney, Runway.ai and WonderStudios. Alongside these, industry giants like NVIDIA are making groundbreaking strides with their Neuralangelo platform, which transforms 2D spaces into lifelike 3D environments. These developments are lowering the barriers of creativity, giving artists the power to swiftly ideate, develop and pitch concepts.

But the greatest impact could arise from automation. Once time-consuming manual tasks, like rotoscoping, are now being automated, cutting down laborious efforts from hours to minutes. Productions like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” are testament to this transformation, with VFX teams that once numbered in the hundreds now reduced to a core squad of 10 engineers.

Copyright Challenges and Fair Compensation

However, the rise of AI is not without its ethical and legal complexities. Generative AI technology often draws upon existing art, designs and content to create new outputs. This raises questions about copyright infringement and fair compensation for original creators. With outdated copyright laws ill-equipped to address these modern issues, the industry is calling out for reform.

In the US, writers staged a strike demanding higher pay and fairer contracts, particularly regarding the use of artificial intelligence in creative processes. Companies remain cautious about leveraging AI for client work, fearing high-profile copyright claims could significantly impact their reputations. This shift will particularly benefit those with vast databases of content, potentially creating a new hierarchy of content ownership.

One solution could be the implementation of smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These technologies have the potential to ensure fair compensation for creators by establishing transparent and immutable ownership records for AI-generated content.

Embracing Innovation

As AI continues to empower the industry, personalization emerges as a new frontier. The technology could, for example, be used to allow anyone to become the main protagonist in their favorite film or show, forging modern connections between audiences and content. Furthermore, leveraging Intellectual Property (IP) across multiple formats, from 2D to AR and VR, has become more feasible and cost-effective. This shift opens doors to interactive experiences, for example taking control of a VR spaceship, letting the audience play a pivotal part in a film.

The Human Touch

Despite the transformative potential of AI, it is crucial to remember that human intervention remains paramount in creating art with a soul. AI tools can revolutionize the production process, but they cannot yet replace the essence of human imagination and emotion. There will likely always be a need for artists and storytellers who breathe life into AI-generated concepts, bringing authenticity and depth to the finished product.

Profit Margins and Production Dynamics

The impact of AI on profit margins is a subject of both hope and concern. While automation could potentially lead to cost savings, questions arise about whether these benefits will be passed onto brands, content owners and studios. Will the increased efficiency of AI-driven workflows result in increased procurement pressure, more productions or simply lead to larger profit margins for production studios?

As AI democratizes certain aspects of the process, lowered barriers to entry may inadvertently lead to increased competition, subsequently impacting the pricing and value of Animation and VFX services.

Key themes related to AI in the market

Conclusion

The CGI, Animation and VFX industries stand at the precipice of an extraordinary era driven by generative AI, where human creativity and technological innovation converge in powerful harmony.

However, the industry must address the challenges of copyright and fair compensation to ensure that creators are duly rewarded for their contributions. With mindful regulation and the integration of human artistry, AI promises to elevate storytelling to new heights, redefine audience engagement and unlock an unprecedented realm of possibilities. As we navigate this new frontier, we look forward to the potential opportunities AI has to offer while valuing the human-led businesses that will take the industry to the next level.

M&A Role

Although fast-moving, AI-technology in Animation and VFX remains relatively nascent, and the sector has yet to witness a slew of AI-driven M&A deals. 

Indicators of a game-changing future are apparent with venture capital increasingly flowing into AI enterprises.  Notable among these are Move.ai, which is transforming movement in digital settings, Speech Graphics, with their speech-based facial animation software, and MARZ, introducing a ready-to-deploy AI solution for VFX.

These investments herald a promising era of AI-driven creativity and efficiencies in Animation and VFX.

We look forward to continuing the conversation as the AI-story unfolds. If you have any queries or would like to have an in depth discussion on this topic or the broader market please Contact us. Our next AI article delves into the world of Legal and Compliance Technology.