This year has seen AI’s relentless ascent, leaving us to wonder whether we're teetering on the brink of an AI hype peak or if this unceasing momentum is the new normal. In a recap from Inkhouse’s recent Meet the Press panel, led by West Coast Managing Director Dan O'Mahony, we’re getting access to what expert business and tech reporters predict lies ahead.

AI has continued to dominate headlines and markets in 2023. Are we nearing the peak of a hype cycle or is this the new normal? 

Last week, our West Coast Managing Director Dan O’Mahony hosted a virtual “Meet the Press” panel event with highly regarded business and tech reporters including Sharon Goldman, senior writer/editor, VentureBeat; Emilia David, journalist, The Verge; Matthew Lynley, journalist, Supervised; and Stephen Nellis, journalist, Reuters.

This group knows the ins and outs of AI innovations and the market leaders behind them. Here’s what they’re seeing right now (and on the horizon): 

🥗 Appetite for AI stories is still there. But, the preference for AI stories is changing. Emilia said, “From last November to maybe January, everyone wanted to know what exactly AI was. People now want to know: what will it do for us?” 

✨ Value and results stand out. Stephen said, “Companies are developing products and trying to sell those products, and so reporters are going to go out and try to talk to those customers on background. We want to find out if the products are any good. Are they actually generating value?”

💯 Real-world business use cases are hard to find. Sharon recently interviewed a CIO who admitted that while he had early access to ChatGPT, he hasn’t put any generative AI use cases into production. She said, “When it comes to brass tacks, a Fortune 500 company is not going to be putting something out there that they're going to be concerned about, especially in a highly regulated business like financial services or healthcare.”

👩‍🔬 Experimentation is happening everywhere. Matthew said, “It's changing so fast. It's like a six-week sliding window of what is and isn't new.” Stephen reminded everyone that AI is a technology, not a product or a business. He said, “I’m looking at companies starting to put these technologies into products and see how they translate to business success or not.” 

🏆 Power players will emerge. Stephen said, “We’re on the tip of what Gartner and others would call the valley of disillusionment. We’re going to see who's actually making money, who's losing money, who's winning, and who's going to be sent back to the drawing board.” 

🧑‍⚖️ Regulation is slow and unclear. “No one knows what's happening with regulation now, even the politicians. They keep having all of these hearings and summits, but the lawmakers haven't learned a lot of things differently from the rest of us,” said Emilia. While federal legislation in the U.S. won’t happen anytime soon, states are implementing new laws to regulate the use of AI when it comes to hiring and insuring people, to name a few. Sharon added, “We’re going to see the most movement by industry at the state and local level.”

📈 Startup tech stacks (and people) are the ones to watch. Matthew said, “It's hard to keep track of how people are using AI, and the only way you find out is just by talking to as many people as you possibly can.” Stephen continued, “I want to talk to startups who are out there selecting who to build on. They can tell us a lot about the power centers and who's going to be around to build a viable business on top of.”

▶️ ICYMI: Watch the recorded media panel event here.