Also: trans rights, retailer bomb threats, China consulting cuts. 
Good morning.
Generative A.I. is rapidly finding a large foothold in large enterprises. That’s my takeaway from a conversation last week with a group of executives leading the charge. The question of whether this is just an interesting new piece of technology or a game changer for business has already been answered: it’s a game changer.
The earliest and easiest use cases, according to Accenture, our partner for last week’s event, are in call centers and various types of content creation, especially marketing and sales. Next up are efforts to drive more intelligent search of information within companies as well as supply chain applications. Those efforts are moving more slowly because of concerns about data and privacy but are moving nonetheless. And then finally, on the more difficult end of the spectrum, companies see major possibilities in software development and in science and health.
A few excerpts from the conversation:
“The momentum in A.I. over the last six months is just amazing. I don’t think anybody saw this coming, even last year…We believe that about 40% of the workforce could be impacted by generative A.I. We have done some research to show which industries will be most impacted—like banking and insurance—and which will see less impact—like energy and natural resources. But even in those less-impacted industries, we think that 20% to 25% of the workforce will be impacted.”
—Joe Depa, Global Lead for Data & A.I., Accenture
“Definitely, it’s a game changer.”
—Alexander Statnikov, Seller Experience, Square Capital
“Every single day we talk to thousands of our customers. But we have no clue what our customers are telling us, because we are dependent on what contact center employees are pressing as buttons…So there is a massive opportunity to convert voice into knowledge.”
—Andreas Athanasopoulos, Deputy CEO, Eurobank Ergasias SA
“There are tons of benefits (in banking)…A number of emails can be sent right to clients that can be done in seconds as opposed to hours.”
—Kyle Corcoran, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
“The development ecosystem will get disrupted big time…I believe that a developer five years from now will be about 50% more efficient than they are today.”
—Omri Morgenshtern, Chief Executive Officer, Agoda
But in spite of the rush to adopt, there are still significant concerns about using the new technology in a responsible way:
“Trust is paramount in enterprise A.I. And when we say trust, we mean providing data security, accounting for privacy, avoiding hallucinations, toxicity, bias, ethics concerns, etc. This is essentially creating quite a bit of a trust gap…So we think about a human in the loop as being a prerequisite.”
—Rahul Auradkar, EVP, Salesforce
If you are worried about losing your job to generative A.I., read the advice marketing pro Aliza Licht shared with the Fortune Connect Fellows last week here. And if you are eager to stay on top of the latest in A.I., apply to attend Fortune Brainstorm A.I. Dec. 11-12 in San Francisco here.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
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Trans rights
Intuit, the software developer behind TurboTax and Quickbooks, is becoming an outlier in corporate America for its public support for trans rights. Trans employees tell Fortune that the company’s willingness to listen and partner with activist groups is helping them feel secure when the community is under public attack. Other companies are downplaying their public support for LGBT issues amid a conservative backlash. Fortune
Bomb threats
Scammers are menacing U.S. retailers like Walmart and Kroger with fake bomb threats, reports the Wall Street Journal. Callers will claim to detonate a (nonexistent) bomb in a store unless staff pay a ransom, usually in Bitcoin or gift cards. The wave of ransom demands picked up this spring amid a broader increase in safety threats to stores, say retail groups. The Wall Street Journal
Consulting cuts
Gerson Lehrman Group is laying off some of its China staff, making it the latest consulting firm to trim its operations in China following Beijing’s crackdown on the sector. GLG had planned to expand in China as late as March, reports the Financial Times. Chinese regulators are targeting consulting firms for national security reasons, with raids on companies like Capvision, the Mintz Group, and Bain & Company. Financial Times
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