While 2023 brought on many changes to IT departments around the world, by far the biggest surprise was generative AI. Many technology leaders already worked with AI for over a decade for things like predictive maintenance and supply chain planning. Some even implemented their own virtual personal assistants (VPAs), which included at least natural language processing—and sometimes more intelligence than that. During COVID-19 lockdowns, for example, specialty chemicals manufacturer Albemarle developed a VPA to provide self-service assistance to over 7,000 employees at home, including a natural language interface with a chat bot, and enough AI to help people interface seamlessly with several business applications at a time.
