NTT's vision for AI adoption - and why collaboration is key

NTT is a global technology and business solutions provider, with over $110 billion in revenue, sales teams in 70 countries and more than 100,000 enterprise customers across all verticals. At VentureBeat's Transform 2023, Vab Goel, Founding Partner, NTTVC and NTT DATA Board Member, spoke with Takashi Hiroi, CFO, Senior Executive Vice President and NTT Board Member Corporation, on how the company is approaching generative AI to support consumer and enterprise customers, the challenges of mainstream AI adoption, and the importance of partnership and collaboration to stay competitive.

NTT is in early stages of exploring the potential of generative AI, Hiroi said, but has started adding AI-powered marketing data services, developed COTOHA, an automated translation service , text and summary translation, and developed a ChatGPT solution for a Spanish pharmaceutical company that helps medical staff quickly and accurately analyze large medical documents.

Crucial Considerations Around Generation AI Adoption

Generative AI is a shiny new toy, but it requires a customer-centric approach. Hiroi stressed the importance of helping customers identify and understand their issues or areas for improvement before integrating AI solutions. This is an approach that aligns with NTT's conventional systems integration practices.

The cost of AI services is also crucial to consider before embarking on a new AI project; Hiroi noted that establishing competitive pricing models for AI will remain complex.

“AI pricing is going to be very complicated,” he said. "I don't currently have a clear vision for formulating the price of AI, but gradually the price of AI will be determined by the value that AI brings."

Goel emphasized that the high compute and energy demands of deploying AI will be an important consideration, and every AI initiative will require a balance between that value and what a company will have to spend on it. advance. It also means organizations need to tackle energy consumption and explore renewable energy solutions, a new and urgent consideration for CTOs.

"20 years ago, when [tech vendors] said, 'We're going to save you energy', as an engineer, I didn't care if they were going to save me energy. energy," Goel said. “In recent years, NTT's finances have been affected by electricity pricing. Energy consumption is now an important KPI."

Why collaboration is so important

NTT's collaborative approach with venture capitalists and early-stage startups is a critical part of its strategy, as it will be key to success in the AI ​​landscape.

"For large companies, global companies, it's very easy to partner with those who we can perceive as the leaders today," Goel said. "My advice is to broaden the scope and really look at some start-ups. Partner with them early and shape their vision. Then you'll have a competitive advantage."

It's also about turning the cost of AI into profit, he added.

"Meeting a lot of startups and taking risks is going to be key," he said. "It's pretty clear that it will be a partnership between large and small companies that will be the winning formula."

And while it's relatively easy for an AI-gen startup to raise money amidst all the buzz, the latest wave of analytics and SaaS companies should remain an object lesson; they have also raised huge sums of money, but many are struggling right now as the market cycle changes.

"Go-to-market partnerships are key," he said. “Startups need to find partners. Even OpenAI found Microsoft. Find great companies that can take them and introduce them to other companies and build services around that. That's what excites me about NTT. Right now, NTT is so diverse and has a solid track record of working with early-stage companies, taking risks on them, and going to market with them."