The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has changed many aspects of our lives. In particular, the launch of generative AI at the end of 2022 has created a large wave of technological innovation, leveraging text, images, music, videos, programming codes, and other data to create high-quality outputs. Applications include creation of coherent and smooth poems, business proposals with intricate details, even awe-inspiring movie scripts. Generative AI is enhancing creativity in AI technologies and creating more room for growth for startup teams as they seek opportunities for success.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosted the “2023 AWS Kaohsiung Industry Summit” on November 8, 2023, inviting key opinion leaders from the industry, government, academia, and research institutions, as well as experts from AWS Asia and Southeast Asia, to engage in dialogues on international trends in sustainability and future urban development. Robert Wang, Managing Director for AWS in Hong Kong and Taiwan, gave the opening speech based on the theme of “Connecting Kaohsiung with the World.” Kaohsiung Mayor Chi-Mai Chen also spoke at the event to welcome the guests of the event. At the summit, Dean Samuels, Chief Technologist at AWS ASEAN also announced that AWS will connect AWS Joint Innovation Centers (JIC) in Kaohsiung with JICs in Singapore, Hong Kong and India to provide comprehensive support for local startups to find room for growth and accelerate technological developments in the southern Taiwan.
During an exclusive interview after the event, Samuels also shared his experience in promoting cloud services to customers since joining AWS in 2012. He has witnessed the rapid development of technologies driven primarily by data, which has become a major trend that empowers digital transformation in different industries. With immense potential for business development made possible by generative AI, the benefits of generative AI will soon be recognized by senior business executives. The tremendous processing power of generative AI in natural language processing has given rise to many application paradigms, including a soaring number of mainstream applications for processing text and images. The business model powered by this technology forms a huge incentive for businesses to invest vast resources, hence starting a new wave of competition in the market.
Samuels has identified changes directly attributable to generative AI in three fields. The first is its use in improving the efficiency of business operations. The results are particularly prominent for programming tasks in software projects because programmers can use natural language commands to direct generative AI to produce codes and accelerate the software development process. For instance, the management consulting company Accenture uses the AWS code generator called Amazon CodeWhisperer to accelerate coding efficiency. It reduces the development efforts of the Velocity team by up to 30% so that they can focus on improving security, quality, and performance. Amazon CodeWhisperer is a very effective tool and the best exemplification of the technology.
The second important field is the creation of new user experience. The most evident example is the innovation of service chatbots. The chatbots designed with traditional AI in earlier periods immediately underwent immense changes made possible by generative AI. Instead of the Q&A generated by standardized keyword searches with “traditional” AI, generative AI now uses predictive mechanisms and technologies to create a smooth and effective user experience similar to conversing with a real human. He provided an example of generative AI in an online travel platform that allows consumers to describe their vacation plans in any way they wish, no matter how far-fetched their ideas are. For example, if one customer specifies “a carefree walk on the beach at 30°C,” the generative AI would automatically generate and recommend detailed travel plans. It can shorten the time required for travelers to plan their journeys and make traveling more convenient and easier.
The third field is creativity. He took Generative BI (business Intelligence) in Amazon QuickSight as an example. Generative BI in Amazon QuickSight allows business teams to interact with data in natural language. Business users can create and share compelling data stories, while business analysts can build, refine visuals, and build complex calculations by simply asking QuickSight Q. For example, It can even use the analysis of product sales data in the past 12 months to recommend plans for improving product sales, and thereby create functional reports and graphs for business analysis. It helps decision makers take direct measures to promote product sales and inspires creativity for product ideas within the company.
AWS Generative AI Technologies and Resources to Help Startups Take on Cross-Industry Development
AWS is committed to supporting the development of startups. Samuels advises startup teams to enhance their capacity for technological development after taking the time to conceptualize their creative products and services. They can save time by familiarizing themselves with the diverse range of generative AI functions and tools launched by AWS. As generative AI technologies involve switching, selection, and use of several AI foundation models, and require the integration of different programming tools, developers must spend time on building their basic technical capabilities.
He recommends a full range of technical training courses on generative AI organized by AWS, or joining the AWS startup accelerator to access related resources, including credits for providing startups with AI foundation model applications and a variety of computing services. They will also have access to services from AWS technical experts, as well as market exposure and marketing support. AWS will continue to help startups build optimal environments for generative AI development and help startups in Taiwan take the lead in generative AI innovation.
