(03:35) It looks like you have a fan in the comment section—one of your customers. Oh, nice!

(03:47) Many companies are still hesitant about AI. What would you say to those companies?

There’s a lot of noise around AI right now. The first thing I’d advise is to be very intentional and deliberate about the outcomes you want to achieve. Start with the "why." There’s a book about it: "Start With Why." Without clarity on what you’re trying to achieve—whether internally, for productivity, or externally, for enhancing customer or partner experiences—you need a clear North Star.

Additionally, understand what your product or solution strategy will be. What does your build, buy, or partner strategy look like? It’s crucial to take a step back and assess how technology, including generative AI, can accelerate your efforts. This will help you be more intentional about leveraging generative AI to achieve specific outcomes.

Consider how you can accelerate time to market and the total cost of ownership for adopting new technology. Make sure you’re adopting the right technologies for the right reasons to deliver the desired outcomes.

(05:32) I love how you simplified it with the concept of "why." Everything successful I’ve seen has a strong North Star. Knowing why you’re doing something is crucial, as it ultimately helps in serving your customer better. A better experience means creating more value for customers at the end of the day. Just because a CEO might point at something and say, “We need AI,” doesn’t mean it’s straightforward. The question is, why do we need AI? Will it actually help our customers or improve our internal processes? You need to consider whether to build a solution in-house or leverage a third-party platform that can bring AI tools into your organization without requiring your own resources for development.

(06:20) AI itself is not new; what’s new is generative AI, which creates new content based on interpretation and analysis. AI has been around for many years, but the recent transformation involves the use of language models to generate content based on queries and imaginations. It’s about leveraging this technology to accelerate product development, enhance customer experiences, or increase productivity. Ultimately, it’s about the specific use case and how you apply the technology to meet your goals.

(07:19) You mentioned a common misconception about AI: that it's just another hype cycle. While every technology has its hype, generative AI is not just a fad; it’s here to stay. Companies, customers, and partners are already using this technology to deliver meaningful outcomes. Another misconception is the fear that AI, particularly advanced AI, will take over the world. While AI systems can become quite intelligent, they are still programmed by humans and lack the intuitive and strategic thinking inherent in human intelligence. AI can identify problems and work through solutions but doesn’t possess the innate human intuition required to generate the right prompts or strategic insights.

(08:48) As AI continues to evolve, it’s important not to lose sight of the human element. Even though AI can get smarter and methodologies like prompt engineering can enhance its capabilities, it’s crucial to maintain our unique human qualities. The technology should complement our skills and enhance productivity, not replace the fundamental human connections and intuition that define us.

(10:20) There are concerns about job loss, similar to the resistance seen when Voice over IP (VoIP) technology emerged. Just as traditional voice engineers had to adapt their skills to work with new VoIP technology, individuals in various fields will need to adjust their skill sets to work with generative AI. The key is to capitalize on the new technology to benefit humanity, our teams, and ourselves. It’s on us, as individuals and leaders, to upskill and adapt to these changes effectively.

(11:21) Regarding the implications for the workforce over the next five years, history shows that new technologies often change job roles rather than replace them entirely. Generative AI will similarly shift job functions, creating new opportunities and positions. For example, business and financial analysts can use AI to handle routine tasks, allowing them to focus on more complex and strategic work.

(12:11) An example from Vectara is our work with Sonosim, a startup focused on ultrasound technology. Sonosim leverages our generative AI capabilities to assist ultrasound technicians. By using AI, even less experienced technicians can access advanced functionalities and improve their skills. The technology enhances their capabilities rather than replacing them.

(13:19) In summary, the role of AI is to enhance skills and productivity, not replace human intuition and expertise. Leadership has a crucial role in empowering teams and organizations to adapt to technological transformations. We must use technology to benefit humanity and ensure it complements our inherent skills and qualities. Even though video streaming is not a new technology, it still faces issues and challenges. For example, leveraging AI to enhance and prioritize the streaming of different feeds can help prevent these problems. AI could automatically detect if a feed or audio goes down and switch to an alternate source. Additionally, in the realm of AI and generative technology, it's possible that my own avatar could continue speaking if I were to go offline temporarily, which could lead to humorous situations, like not knowing what was said in my absence.

(14:46) I appreciate your use of the word "enhance" instead of "replace." AI is meant to enhance people’s roles, not just replace them. It can elevate an employee's capabilities by providing them with the data and tools they need to perform their job with higher productivity. This enhancement approach, rather than replacement, is crucial for business leaders to consider. It’s important to focus on how AI can enhance employees’ work rather than merely seeing it as a replacement for jobs.

(15:12) To avoid AI becoming just another tool that’s signed up for but never used, businesses should start by defining their goals and use cases clearly. Determine what you are trying to achieve with AI. If your use case is marketing or sales, there are already AI-powered tools available that can be leveraged. For example, companies like Conversica offer virtual SDR (Sales Development Representative) chatbots. Instead of building a custom chatbot, you might choose to purchase an existing solution and focus on your core competencies.

(16:06) The creativity angle in AI is another area with numerous opportunities. For instance, AI can generate new pictures and videos. An example would be taking a picture of a beautiful sunset at the beach and then using AI to add a missing person to the image, something that would have required significant skill in the past. Now, AI can accomplish this task quickly and naturally. It’s essential to evaluate AI solutions based on their use case and whether to build, buy, or partner for these tools.

(17:15) As you assess AI tools, consider what you're trying to achieve and evaluate whether you need to build a solution yourself or purchase an existing one. The goal is to focus on enhancing your productivity and value proposition rather than just adding another tool to your stack.

(18:06) Regarding Vectara, we are an enabler of generative outcomes and provide generative AI as a service. We offer a serverless retrieval-augmented generation platform that doesn’t require training on your data to deliver relevant results. This approach lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO) by up to 8 times compared to traditional methods. Our retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) technology, which we pioneered, helps embed generative functionality efficiently.

(19:02) The total cost of ownership is a crucial factor to consider. While fine-tuning language models can yield better results, it also involves significant costs. Our platform has been designed to reduce these costs while delivering high-quality outcomes. Reports, such as those from McKinsey, estimate that generative AI could drive trillions of dollars in economic value. Embedding generative AI into other technology stacks nearly doubles this potential value.

(20:05) In this technology adoption curve, the comparison between building a solution in-house versus buying one is crucial. The choice you make will affect your ability to enhance capabilities and drive market success. Having a robust platform ecosystem, like ours, supports this approach by providing valuable tools and partnerships.

(21:10) Regarding our startup partnership program, we designed it to create a unique, multifaceted partner ecosystem. This program focuses on customer value co-creation with the broader ecosystem. As a platform, Vectara does not specialize in vertical applications but instead offers tools that can be integrated into various solutions. By partnering with startups, we aim to accelerate their time to market and help them leverage our generative AI capabilities effectively. Our ecosystem strategy aims to empower startups by leveraging Vectara's capabilities. We collaborate with startups to create solutions tailored to specific use cases in sales, marketing, healthcare, and finance. We're seeing significant traction with our startup partners who have embraced this partnership program.

(22:37) For startups, our program offers several benefits. We have two business models: one is a free tier where anyone can sign up and access some capacity each month. I encourage everyone to sign up at vectara.com for free. To unlock the full power of Vectara, startups can also receive development credits, discounts, and a milestone-based success journey to ensure we work together towards building successful solutions.

(23:08) Startups interested in infusing generative functionality into their MVP or solution are encouraged to apply. If you have any doubts about the requirements, please apply anyway, and we’ll discuss it offline. The goal is to empower the startup ecosystem and mobilize the VC, accelerator, and incubator communities to extend Vectara’s power to their networks.

(23:35) I encourage everyone to check out our startup program and apply. When applying, please use "NachoNacho" as the referral partner. We have already seen some great initial successes since launching our solution together.

(24:09) Thank you, Badar. We look forward to continuing our work together. I apologize for the technical issues today, but there have been many valuable points made. We’ll create social media clips from this discussion to share over the coming months. I highly recommend you check out our platform at vectara.com/startups and also visit NachoNacho's B2B SaaS Marketplace, where we are a great partner.

(24:34) Thank you once again for joining us today. We look forward to a successful future together. Thanks, everyone, for participating, and thank you for having me.