As previously published on 11/27/24 in MarTech
Artificial Intelligence search company, Perplexity, has raised three rounds of funding this past year. They have now begun their fourth round of funding which will value them at more than $8 billion.
The startup seeks to challenge Google’s supremacy in search by combining the best of traditional search functionality with providing answers to questions similar to ChatCGT. The company currently has annualized revenue of slightly over $10 million. It recently launched an enterprise version for corporate customers that will search internal files.
Last year, we signed an agreement with an AI startup who provided that same enterprise functionality. This year, we didn’t renew the agreement because it’s now built into our Google Workspace platform, Gemini. We went from paying $150 per month, to $10 per month, for the same functionality. See what Google did there?
Guess who else is playing this same game? Hmmm…Have you heard of Copilot, Microsoft’s new “AI Companion.” The partnership and investment with Open AI has all the bells and whistles as Chat GPT 4.0 (see below).
There is a free version, a Pro version (priced similar to Google Gemini for $30 a month), that will integrate into your Microsoft 365 suite.
With a voice interactive interface ( four voice options), you can now delete your Amazon Alexa, Calm, Apple News, and many other apps, if you choose. See what Microsoft is doing?
Apple has quietly acquired more AI companies over the last three years than any other company in the world. Last year, they acquired 32 companies in the AI and machine learning space, almost twice as many as Microsoft. The new IPhone 16 with Apple intelligence is just the beginning.
Oh, and let’s not forget Facebook, who is in the process of launching new tools via Meta’s Ads Manager now, and throughout next year. Ad creatives will get new background, image and text generators.
All of this is happening at a time when marketers are looking to consolidate and/or reduce costs related to their martech stack. According to MarTech’s latest Replace Research, 61% of respondents said the number one factor for a replacement solution was cost savings.
Every technology wave brings about winners and losers, but it also creates an evolution, a better way to accomplish something. The dot com bust gave us Amazon, Ebay, Coupon.com and new ways to buy traditional products more efficiently. AirBnB, Uber, and Venmo emerged from the ashes of the “Great Recession” of 2008, providing us with more efficient ways to buy and pay for services.
The AI bubble will produce a similar set of winners and losers. It has already provided us with new ways to create code, images and content. But, outside of Open AI and Antrophic, it’s not clear who else in the AI generative space will be a winner.
One thing is sure. We are only at the beginning of the wave of AI solutions. According to CB Insights, AI startups are currently getting one third of all investment dollars with B2B startups getting $10 to every $1 invested in B2C applications. As a result, we know we are going to see more and more AI applications aimed at B2B marketers.
For Perplexity, will it emerge as an AI winner or will Google put it out of business by building its unique functionality into search? Marketers are facing a similar question, which may come down to opportunity cost. Is it worth the expense and time of learning a new tool, or do we play the waiting game to see if our current platforms integrate the functionality?
Perhaps I am drawing the circle too small by just focusing on integration and costs. Carrie Mahon, CMO at Unanet point of view is “Embracing new AI tools early not only provides marketers with a strategic advantage in creativity and efficiency but also fosters a mindset shift that speeds up AI integration and unlocks greater benefits. Delaying could mean missing out on these initial advantages and innovation opportunities in a rapidly evolving tech landscape.”
Could the real value and strategy be experimenting with new AI technologies, although perhaps costly, and then moving to more efficient platforms as they become available. Capture the opportunity to learn and experiment, then become efficient.
As an old IBM client once said about new technologies “Let a thousand flowers bloom then cut them all down except for the tallest few.” He would then follow up with “make sure that you tend to your garden!”
Maybe the AI wave is not a bubble to burst, but rather a garden to nurture.
