Unlocking the potential of Gen-AI in business context: Prospects through the eyes of academia and industry players

Abstract

This research explores the benefits and challenges associated with Gen-AI tools for business improvement from the perspective of business players and academicians. Data comprises of interviews with 7 academicians and 10 European industry players. Several benefits were recognized from the use of Gen-AI in business context, mainly resolution of complex situations and operational improvement of processes. At the optimization level, industry players perceived Gen-AI with more potential than academicians. Advantages of Gen-AI were identified as strongly aligned with data quality. Both academicians and industry players highlight difficulty of identification, collection, and update of relevant data, together with the needed parsimony in decision-making about Gen-AI-produced results. This study corroborates the current awareness of scarcity in trained people to explore the full potential of Gen-AI and highlights the resistance towards its adoption by top management, especially in SMEs, which due to their scale may lack structured data and act more risk averse.