Generative AI is a Game-Changer For Contemporary Industrial Practices

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is the widely accepted generic term for an enterprise and industry practice generative paradigm shift. By utilizing large "foundation models" (e.g., GPT, DALL·E) pre-trained on large datasets, generative AI has the ability to generate new material—text, code, images, etc.—that propels or replaces human effort. New research cites significant productivity improvements: such as a 14% increase in customer service performance by one Fortune 500 company with agents leveraging GenAI tools, and JPMorgan puts the potential of GenAI at adding 7–10% to worldwide GDP, worth $7–10 trillion annually. Generative AI is facilitating never-before-seen personalization, research speed, and new AI-facilitated processes in marketing, R&D, and more. These change potentialities are accompanied by challenges—data protection and security issues, inherent bias, "hallucinations" of false information, intellectual-property issues, and disruption of the workforce. This paper synthesizes recent studies to trace how GenAI redefines productivity, business models, and automation (including AI agents), within firms, and addresses the ethics and governance issues that emerge when firms deploy these technologies.