Investments in AI were a major concern at CES

Cash rules everything around AI.

That’s what we heard at CES. Investment in AI is higher than ever, but the financial calculations are less about the hot new opportunities and more about implementing the technology in a way that makes sense for specific use cases.

Dallas Dolen, a technology principal with PwC, told IT Brew that we’re at the midpoint of the AI revolution. Investors need to understand that the ROI on their spend may not come until 2030, he said, and that’s barring any uncertainty.

“You have potential for inflation, potential for deflation, potential for stagflation—economic woes that may occur in the next four or five years are very unpredictable,” Dolen said. “I can’t predict that bit of it, but I do think by 2030 the way that AI will be integrated into society will be finally understood and the monetization of it will be very similar to what you saw 25 years ago with fiber.”

Get the money. AI cashflows aren’t slowing. A January analysis from BCG projects that corporations will double AI spend this year, and that spend will continue despite the uncertain payoff timeline.

Dolen said winners and losers are both unlikely to relive the chaos that accompanied the telecom bubble of the 1990s, which only left a few big players once it popped. This time, he predicts we’ll see smaller bubbles—and more survivors because “the value gets spread across a bunch of other things.”

AI will endure because it offers practical solutions to big IT problems. Andrea Abell, CISO of pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, told IT Brew that the technology can provide a major assist in cybersecurity. But while promising solutions to existing problems are welcome, AI vendor security and stability remain hot-button issues; purchasing new products requires a stable supply chain.

“To do business, we have to be able to agree on these security parameters,” Abell said.

Pay to play. Secure-by-default is a good starting position, she added, something like what Microsoft and Amazon are embracing when it comes to AI vendors. In the healthcare space where Eli Lilly operates, supply-chain issues and the complications of the sector mean it’s essential to raise the bar on security.

Abell told IT Brew she feels bullish about new technologies’ ability to change a company’s approach to cybersecurity and other disciplines.

“We can produce tools, and I think we can do it easily now with AI where we couldn’t before, and that’s what I’m most excited about,” Abell said. “I am super optimistic in a way that I haven’t been in the past, because there’s no ‘check the box’ approach that’s ever going to change the game.”