TECH - Google Executive Says Supply Chain Uses of Generative AI Flourishing | Benzinga
But among the discussions of new product offerings at this year's conference, it was a presentation by an outside executive that filled the main ballroom to near-capacity Wednesday: Warren Barkley, the head of product-Vertex AI, GenAI and machine learning at Google Cloud (NASDAQ: GOOG).
It's not a new idea that generative AI could have major implications for supply chains. But Barkley painted a picture of how rapidly it is already making its mark. The capabilities of GenAI are rising at exponential levels, he said, and real-life implications for supply chain management are imminent or already in place.
In the real world where solutions are being implemented, Barkley said, various estimates of savings and investment in particular industries are "shockingly huge" and open up "this whole new world."
AI and machine learning models at Google that just a few years ago used millions of "parameters" to produce information or a solution now use trillions of records, "just magnitudes bigger than they were before" he said.
The power of context
The models now have the ability to produce "context" meaning that even if a specific piece of data is not in the model or is not provided by the user, the model can figure it out, Barkley said. He gave the example of asking a GenAI tool to produce a picture of an animal that is furry and has a tail and that humans view as pets. Even if the user of the model does not input the word "cat" he said, today's AI tools can produce that picture.
Ultimately, Barkley said, GenAI models increasingly have all the cognitive and sensory capabilities of humans except smell (though he did not mention taste and that ...