From facilitating the creative process to fostering increased efficiency, Gen.T honourees weigh in on AI’s potential to impact their businesses and the challenges of this rising technology
You would have to have been living under a rock to not have seen the ultra-viral image of Pope Francis rocking a trendy, oversized white puffer jacket. But dapper as he looks, make no mistake about it, this #ootd did not happen IRL; rather, it was generated by artificial intelligence (AI). It was created based on prompts, or instructions, which its creator had entered into the generative AI imaging tool Midjourney.
That this hyper-realistic image hoodwinked many into thinking it’s real is just one of the reasons why the sudden proliferation of generative AI tools has become among the most hotly debated topics in technology in recent times. There have also been reports about how AI can be used to spread disinformation, with generative text tools like ChatGPT, for example, exhibiting a tendency to blur the lines between fact and fiction, and often making things up in response to user enquiries.
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At the same time, there is no denying that AI has the potential to boost human creativity and productivity in positive ways, inspiring businesses in various sectors to take a closer look at how they can best adopt the technology.
With generative AI making it big, we have started to see weeks of work being done in just a matter of hours
“AI serves as a good challenge for us to be able to adapt in continuously finding creative solutions based on the needs of a specific project,” says Philippines-based Patrick Martin, founder and CEO of digital content creation company Lit Lab Studios and 2022 Gen.T honouree. “I see it in smartphone video editing software and apps that allow AI to instantly stitch and sync videos based on beats and melody, making filmmaking and video editing more accessible to the general public.”
AI is also becoming more important as an analytical tool used by investment firms and financial institutions. Foxmont Capital Partners’ founding partner Jelmer David Ikink, a 2023 Gen.T honouree, shares that his company uses platforms that “combine consumer and market data estimates of apps through the analysis of big data to find new deals, as well as more easily tracking the performance of our portfolio companies”. He says that AI platforms can also help to speed up due diligence by “accessing and parsing large data sets quickly and in a structured way”.
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Ikink adds that in venture capital, AI can be used to help companies identify the best exit strategies for their portfolio companies. This can be done through predictive analytics to identify when it is the best time to sell an investment, or through online marketplaces which often use AI to match the parties in structured liquidity programmes or direct secondary sales.
“Although AI is in its infancy in the Philippines, it has the potential to offer exciting solutions and investment opportunities as it continues to develop in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and government services,” says Ikink.