The future of AI is open—and you can build it yourself

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By Thomas Christensen, IBM NCEE VP for Ecosystem

The AI conversation has moved on from experimentation to implementation at scale. So, what do organizations like independent software vendors (ISVs) need to take their usage of AI into the stratosphere? The answer is a technology that’s open, trusted and governed.

AI is now a given rather than a gimmick in most organizations’ technology strategies. The technology is truly taking the world by storm, with generative AI expected to drive up to 1 billion apps by 2028.[1]

New challenges arise with the evolution of the AI maturity curve. Businesses must make the jump from experimenting with AI to deploying it at scale. They need to understand how to implement it to drive specific outcomes in their businesses, which means embracing governance from the word go, developing the right capabilities, and tuning AI technology to their precise requirements.

Some might think that ISVs and companies that embed software into their products have a head-start on these efforts. But the truth is that even if an organization is a technology leader, it very likely isn’t an AI expert. That’s when standing on the shoulders of giants—or AI veterans—can unlock unprecedented advantages.

Homing in on industry-specific LLMs

By teaming up with a technology vendor with a mature AI strategy, ISVs and similar companies can get a jump on their own plans. Choosing partners that buy into open AI development is a smart move. With a non-proprietary approach that encourages collaboration on how large-language models (LLMs) are designed, developed and scaled, these organizations are accelerating the creation of specialized models per industry.

This is of unique value to ISVs, who often serve a very niche sector, and so benefit from AI models that are trained using domain- and function-specific terminology. Take the example of an ISV that serves the world of human resources (HR). LLMs that recognize terms such as talent, salary base, full-time equivalent and so on will be much more useful. Utilizing these tailored LLMs will help ISVs and similar companies cut time to market and increase cost-effectiveness.

Automate for success

We often talk about how AI drives automation, but increasingly, automation is driving AI. By 2025, Gartner estimates that 80% of the software development life cycle will involve Generative AI code generation, enhancing developer productivity by up to 75% in various use cases. With 54% of companies saying IT skills shortages are preventing them from keeping up with the pace of change[2], it’s clear that this helping hand has come at the right time.

Conversational AI is also coming to the fore, transforming both the ways that users interact with AI but also how AI responds. ISVs and similar companies can take advantage of AI orchestration technologies that will allow an AI assistant to do more than deliver data—instead making decisions and executing workflows.

Once again, these organizations can benefit from not having to build these capabilities from scratch. With low-code tools that are designed to be used with zero specialist training, you can put AI development in the hands of your domain experts. Not only will this help you better align to specific business outcomes, but it also saves investing in costly developer resources.

Build trust into every step

One of the biggest concerns around AI is the challenge of AI governance.

From AI hallucinations to misuse of data, we all have to be on our guard against the inherent risks in the large-scale adoption of this technology. ISVs and similar companies should look for technology vendors with a focus on AI ethics. Policies such as not using client data to train models, ensuring tuned models belong to just the client it was created for, and providing indemnification for models all help to inspire trust.

For ISVs and similar companies, there is no better domain expert to turn to than IBM. We’re providing solutions such as an AI Assistant Builder through our Build Studio that help organizations save time and money on development while limiting their risk exposure. Hit the ground running with IBM

[1] Source: https://www.nashsquared.com/2023-digital-leadership-report

[2] Source: IDC: Gary Chen, Jim Mercer. “1 Billion New Logical Applications: More Background.”