May Habib’s Post

RAG on steroids is right — check out the KILLER new features live in Writer today. Just released 10M words of insta-RAG :) Can't stop, won't stop. Thank you Michael Nuñez for the deep dive — https://lnkd.in/grx9-NvP

Democratizing AI app development in the enterprise — sounds scary, but so is in the inverse: holding on so tightly to the tech that you stifle innovation and change in your org. Sathish M., CIO of Ally, understands the balance: making it easy for the business to build and maintain AI apps and workflows while controlling security, infra, and AI governance. Last week, we had a conversation with Sathish, whose teams we've had as valued customers for more than a year, about how to help bring generative AI to all. At Ally, they’ve established a dedicated team to spearhead the implementation of generative AI as part of a holistic enterprise transformation. Key takeaways that resonated deeply with our audience: 1️⃣ AI for everyone: Sathish highlighted how generative AI is a game-changer because it's so accessible. "All you need to do is know English," in his words. This means that practically anyone in your business can start leveraging AI to redefine how you operate and compete. 2️⃣ More than just tech: It’s not just about adding new tech into your workflow. Generative AI is set to revolutionize business operations, making it a critical element in strategic business planning. 3️⃣ Get on board or get left behind: Sathish was clear about the urgency of adopting generative AI, stating, “If you’re not participating, engaging, and integrating generative AI, you will be left behind.” This technology is rapidly becoming essential in all areas of business, emphasizing the need for active engagement. Sathish issued a clear call to action: Generative AI is here to transform business strategies and operations, and it’s crucial to get involved now to accelerate your business’s growth and maintain a competitive edge. And check out the sick AI Studio demo that Andrew Miller on the Writer team gave during the webinar! Want to watch the full thing? Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gB9PDFNU

Billions have been invested in LLMs, but enterprises are still struggling to realize the full potential of generative AI. I’m thrilled to be joining the VentureBeat team at #VBTransform2024 in San Francisco next week to cut through the hype and discuss what it REALLY takes to get to enterprise-grade AI infrastructure at your company.   Incredible transformation is possible with AI. If you follow me here, you know that a huge part of the equation is graph-based RAG. Kicking off the VB conference on July 9, I'll be sharing how graph-based RAG is not only improving accuracy but revolutionizing enterprise operations, with real stories from Writer customers. 🚀 DM or comment if you'll be in SF next week for this! https://lnkd.in/gHDzXxJt

💥 Wrapping up an exciting week at the AI Engineer World's Fair, where the gap between flashy demos and scalable, production-ready AI systems was front and center. Here’s my take: 1️⃣ Evals, evals, evals: We've been reminded that without rigorous real-life evaluation, you'll never get past impressive demos to actual solutions. It’s about making AI work in the real world, not just in controlled environments. 2️⃣ Challenges with RAG: Everyone's journey with RAG is littered with hurdles. It's not just about integrating massive amounts of data — but making sense of it in a way that's both scalable and sustainable. 3️⃣ Experimentation is key: Building AI is a blend of art and science that requires ongoing experimentation. Expecting models to magically solve complex problems without a structured approach doesn't work. 4️⃣ Beyond the basics: At Writer, we’re seeing firsthand how vertical integration after a certain scale unlocks significant advantages. Custom solutions beat generic ones, especially as market standards like inference solutions and AI clouds become commoditized. 5️⃣ Need for an AI system: Organizing AI development efforts systematically has proven essential. It’s not enough to experiment. We must also manage these apps at scale effectively. 6️⃣ Communication standards: What folks mean when they say "planners" or "agents" — there's no common definition. Agents are still kind of a wild-west. No clear agreement of agent or standard of how they'll communicate. Not yet a coherent set of tools or communication protocols tho some companies launched some things related to that this week. It’s not easy to get from AI prototype to a production system! At Writer, we're pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve in the enterprise — responsibly and impactfully.

Good generative AI-era CIOs know the market, the players, the offerings — the actual products, not just the marketing pitch. Bad generative AI-era CIOs listen just to the pitches — and they stop at the hyperscalers and strategy consultants. Good generative AI-era CIOs are hands-on with AI — the APIs, the applications, the studios, the frameworks. Bad generative AI-era CIOs use Copilot to draft their emails — and that's about it. Good generative AI-era CIOs are visionaries who paint a future that all employees — not just in IT — get excited about. Bad generative AI-era CIOs outsource AI vision to Big Tech. Good generative AI-era CIOs build AI teams inside of IT whose job it is to serve the business. Bad generative AI-era CIOs build AI teams who develop AI prototypes untethered to business reality or real users. Good generative AI-era CIOs understand that employee adoption is the gateway to value realization and they partner with their CHROs and business leaders to drive adoption. Bad generative AI-era CIOs don't talk to employees outside of IT about AI. Good generative AI-era CIOs have honest conversations with their CEO and boards about when AI will hit the PnL. Bad generative AI-era CIOs haven't talked to the board about generative AI since 1H'2023. Good generative AI-era CIOs run a cross-functional AI taskforce whose job it is to help the organization responsibly, legally, and ethically develop and use AI applications. Bad generative AI-era CIOs run a cross-functional AI taskforce whose job it is to slow things down until "the market settles." Good generative-AI era CIOs deliver meaningful impact to the organization with generative AI budgets of <$5m. Bad generative-AI era CIOs want to commit tens of millions and issue a press release before POCs are actually in production and getting utilization. Good generative-AI era CIOs understand that scaling and managing AI apps and workflows is going to be just as important as building prototypes, and invest in the tooling and resourcing to do that. Bad generative-AI era CIOs build one company GPT and then lose interest after launching it at the company's AI town hall. Good generative-AI era CIOs know the business needs hands-on AI learnings in order to get their heads around the change management. Bad generative-AI era CIOs think it’s all about their model garden architecture. Good generative-AI era CIOs diversify their approaches to building and deploying AI applications. Bad generative-AI era CIOs just swap LLMs. Good generative-AI era CIOs know that the key to high quality, accurate AI apps and workflows is data — and a lot of that data sits in people's heads and desktops, not just in DBs. Bad generative-AI era CIOs don't want to start on generative AI until the 2-year data transformation project is complete. Good generative-AI era CIOs understand that the speed of the disruption is the disruption. Bad generative-AI era CIOs are still trying to catch their breath.

Sooooo sooooo lucky to be welcoming Diego Lomanto and Roger Kopfmann to the Writer executive team! They have deep expertise in driving value for IT buyers and building high-performing teams in fast-growth environments. MOST importantly, they each have a genuine passion for AI and Writer’s vision to transform work AND ARE OBSESSED with making sure customers realize outrageous value. These world-class SaaS leaders are joining us at a pivotal moment. With over 250 enterprise customers, we’ve seen revenue triple year over year and net retention revenue grow to 179%. Customers are seeing 7x ROI on average. 🤯 With SO much naysaying about generative AI in the enterprise rn, it's time for us to step on the gas — make sure companies KNOW there is a MUCH BETTER way to get value from generative AI. Once you go full-stack, you never go back ;) Andy Shorkey Diego Lomanto Roger Kopfmann — the whole Writer team is SO excited to be working with you. Together, we'll continue to deliver transformative ROI for enterprises worldwide and revolutionize the way work gets done. 💪 Read more about our incredible momentum today in @VentureBeat — https://lnkd.in/gXmuFB34 

Prediction: 90% of the software you’ll be using in five years hasn’t been written yet. And enabled by improving SOTA LLMs, no-code or low-code AI app and workflow builders, and the coming enterprise-grade accuracy of AI agents for decision-making and action-taking — it will be you or someone on your team who did the software writing.

🎉 Writer was just named one of Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces for 2024!!🎉 At Writer, our incredible people are just as important as the innovative technology we’re bringing to customers. As we’ve scaled from 35 to more than 200 employees this past year, making sure our team feels connected, empowered, and inspired has been at the top of my list. It’s one big reason why our customers love us — they tell me again and again how our team’s genuine investment in their success is a game changer in terms of real results from generative AI.  Building a world-class culture while scaling as fast as we are takes a huge amount of dedication, creativity, and heart. ❤️ Huge kudos to Rohan Vaidya, our head of people and talent, and all of our wonderful colleagues for this amazing recognition. Want to join us on our mission to transform work with AI? Check out our newest job postings — link in comments! #IncBestWorkplace

Fresh off the stage at the French Riviera with Drew Panayiotou Lindsay Barrett and Matthew Fantazier with a banger of a session on AI-driven marketing transformation. As I told the live audience, I think these organizations — Pfizer, Mars, and Kenvue — are going to emerge from this generative AI primordial goo period as WINNERS and everyone should just furiously borrow what's put them on the success path. Gotta give the raw juice to LinkedIn bc these leaders are just crushing it on VISION and EXECUTION related to AI: From Drew Panayiotou: 💡 "AI is going to reinvent the marketing function. I think it completely changes the role of the CMO." 💡 "You don't have to spend so much time worrying about perfection, and you spend more time putting more stimulus out in the world. If you could put more stimulus out in the world as a marketer, that's fun. That opens up creativity." 💡 "How do we take the things that were very process-driven, that closed the vectors to a campaign, and all of a sudden I don't need to choose between just one or two vectors?" 💡 "The one thing I say often is that technology is outpacing our org structures. The tech is moving even faster, and we have to have agility as marketers." 💡"The next generation of marketer that embraces how AI tools work will be the most successful. And it's not about age. It's about who will leave and breathe with AI." From Lindsay Barrett: 💥 "We wanted to find the biggest pain points in the marketing organization. And so we identified some obvious ones, like content creation. But content APPROVAL was massive for us. In some of our markets, we were sending up to 600 assets a month to legal and regulatory, and it was taking up to three weeks of manual review with a rejection rate of those assets. So we instantly knew the legal team had to be a massive part [of the transformation]. 💥"Associate well-being is massive at Mars and AI actually is a real opportunity for us to not to fill those hours with more work but to give people a bit of time back for their own wellbeing and to help them get into some more creative spaces." 💥"We literally took the tools and the apps in and went, right, right, you create the PDP pages, let's get in here and let's do a seasonal update. And we did it live with AI in the room with them. And I think one of the most powerful moments was in one of the workshops we ran, we said, let's upload a PDF of our brand guidelines now. Let's run and test the 10K PDP pages we've got and in 3 seconds we could identify the % of them are not brand compliant. And the team just went, whoa." 💥"My team's job is to create space and capability to support our amazing brand marketers. We've been shortlisted for 16 awards here today [at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity]. They are incredible. But they can be weighed down by so much admin-style work that we need to alleviate. And that's where I think the excitement for AI is." From Matthew Fantazier (continued in the comments):