AI conversation now focused on returns from deployment: Google executive

Companies are increasingly seeking measurable returns from AI investments as the focus shifts from experimentation and scaling to value, security and agentic transformation

Indian startups are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) at an unprecedented pace and the real conversation has moved to the returns on investment (RoI) by deploying AI rather than just experimenting with the technology, a senior Google executive said.

 “Over the last year, the conversation has shifted. Eighteen to 24 months ago, it was all about experimentation, then about scaling up AI across the enterprise and now it is the value conversation. Customers are asking how do they add value,” said Amit Kumar, managing director of digital natives business at Google Cloud India. He was talking at the Google's "Let's Talk AI" event.

 

 The reason customers are looking at value is because enterprises have spent millions of dollars over the last few years trying proof of concepts (Poc) on which solutions can be scaled up and deployed across operations. Many of those have failed when tried in a real-world environment due to a host of reasons, leaving them with soaring cost and grappling to realise how to effectively deploy AI across enterprise workflows. That is one of the key reasons why adoption of the technology has lagged across sectors.

 ]Companies are also looking for the RoI because a chatbot answering a question quickly does not add value to the customer downstream, according to Kumar.

 “Customers are asking what is the value proposition I am getting by deploying AI; is it more customers, more cost saving or ability to solve problems at scale and pace that was not possible earlier,” he added.

 Yet, startups are better placed to adopt AI across their workflows than large enterprises, which have legacy infrastructure and data spread across the ecosystem. Modernising that takes time compared to startups that have their workload mainly in the Cloud.

 Google's digital native business (DNB) segment refers to Google Cloud’s specialised division and programs dedicated to supporting companies built entirely on Cloud, data, and AI technologies from Day 1.

 Besides adoption, the conversation has also shifted from just using AI to agentic transformation, agentic solution and end-to-end completion of task. At the same time, that has raised concerns about security, governance and guardrails.

 Cybersecurity risks have gone up manifold with attackers using sophisticated tools powered by AI to invade companies. The speed of attack and attack surface has also gone up with millions of lines of codes now written by agents. The time between vulnerability detection and weaponised exploitation has also come down to 1.6 days from 1.3 years earlier, Google said.

 “While doing all this and solving customer problems, the critical question is are we doing it in a secure way, with data security in place, if all decisions taken by agents are explainable, and meeting guidelines in regulated industries,” he added.