Generative AI Foundation Models vs. Vertical Generative AI Models
Foundation Models
Foundational models (e.g. ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, etc.) are trained on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available data. This includes books, websites, and other texts to develop a wide-ranging understanding of human language. We’ll call these Everyday AI. They provide great generalist value within the framework of available public knowledge. This new and amazing capability allows us to answer questions faster and with greater confidence.
However, what’s lacking is the deep knowledge within an organization’s information & decision-making domain. In effect, how can I apply that same perspective of advanced information exchange to my organizational domain environment?
Everyday AI will not provide a sustainable competitive advantage. But utilizing a vertical generative AI capability, one that has been trained with a deep knowledge of your business domain can rapidly accelerate your business, information processing, and decision-making activities with contextual understanding and the wisdom your team needs.
Vertical GenAI is the next frontier in GenAI and will prove exponentially more valuable because this is how to target the information exchanges at the heart of organizational operations. Gartner has proclaimed this “Game-Changing AI.”
Vertical Generative AI Models
Vertical GenAI is optimized for the needs of specific industries, business functions, or tasks and is task- and user-optimized, providing greater accuracy and efficiency.
Vertical GenAI excels because it has:
- Industry focus — Built to meet the needs and challenges of specific domains.
- Deep domain knowledge — Uses industry expertise to address specific requirements and use cases.
- Better value — Lower costs to run, models are smaller, and require fewer resources.
- Accuracy — Higher accuracy and reduced hallucinations because of more relevant and focused training data.
How Vertical Generative AI Models Are Created
Success is enabled through a deep understanding of the industry/domain, an understanding of key GenAI use cases, and an ability to connect models to customers’ enterprise data. This last element is the golden key to providing value and is where the abilities of “generalist” GenAI fall short and where Vertical GenAI excels.
Utilizing a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) framework, which combines retrieval-based and generative approaches to enhance the performance of language models, particularly in generating accurate and contextually relevant responses, we can curate the right responses, via contextual and conversational interaction, to technical, industry, or organizational information requests.
This means the model learns and then knows my organizational information, in context, as well as knowing me, to provide me with the best possible insight and knowledge needed. The interaction is conversational, which has proven to be the best method for understanding in context.
Brain imaging studies have demonstrated that the brain networks recruited during emotionally engaged interactions between interlocutors are far more complex when compared to those of passive listeners. This engagement is the basis for advancing organizational performance capabilities through a conversational GenAI Vertical.
Much of the early, and understandable, concern with Foundational GenAI has been because they are closed systems, unable to be enhanced with my domain data (without sharing it with everyone), that reside in the provider’s environment. This precludes many from utilizing a standard commercially available capability due to the sensitivity of corporate proprietary data. This data cannot leave the digital walls of the enterprise. But Vertical GenAI is different because it’s designed from the start as a capability to be brought into and built within an organization’s enterprise. Primarily because that’s where the domain data resides!
Value Proposition
Fueled with organizational and domain knowledge, Vertical GenAI is the foundation to leverage AI for advanced organizational capabilities, to make intelligent decisions based on data and a trained model from within the organization’s experience and knowledge base. As it learns historical information from organizational data stores, curated with current activities and information exchanges, this becomes the catalyst for a highly intelligent domain-smart GenAI capability to be wielded for organizational advancements in speed and accuracy of information processing.
Foundational AI is great for internet-based questions, but it doesn’t have your domain/organization knowledge like Vertical GenAI does to know where your assets in motion are, and what the latest trends in sales or manufacturing mean to your organization in a predictive and prescriptive context.
In the medical domain as an example, this has meant the nomination of new drugs at more than twice the volume and speed as previously done without AI. The horizon is upon us for application in MANY new domains. Your domain is next.
The McLean Forrester Advantage
McLean Forrester is at the forefront of leading-edge AI capabilities; we have the expertise and background to guide and assist our customers in this necessary journey.
According to Gartner, 80% of CIOs and Tech Executives plan full GenAI adoption within three years. Waiting to see if this is a fad that will soon disappear is not the recommended decision path. GenAI is here to stay and those embracing and adopting will be in the lead.
Those cautiously waiting and nervous about wading in will soon find themselves significantly behind their peers who are accelerating to the winner’s circle. Tech leaders must act today to pave the way for an advanced and future-ready organization.
Our Vertical GenAI approach delivers unmatched benefits:
- Holistic Insight: With an ability to learn and contextually understand your organizational information it will be able to identify opportunities for improvement, provide key knowledge at the speed of need, and supercharge your team with wisdom.
- Strategic Modernization: Our carefully constructed methodology, working with your subject matter experts, will identify and utilize the right data upon which to base predictive and prescriptive actions. Increasing speed and accuracy in knowledge transfer and decision-making drives business value enhancing efficiency and providing a competitive edge.
- Risk Management: By leveraging GenAI capabilities that are brought into and trained within the customer’s enterprise, the risk of data exfiltration is mitigated, and corporate intellectual property stays within the trusted enterprise. Your secret sauce remains safe and secure.
- Data-Ready: Our team greatly understands the key connective tissue between trusted and accessible data to the implementation of an AI project. This is why the first phase of any project is the business process review and mining of data requirements. This ensures the data is ready for the implementation and training of the Vertical GenAI model.
Revolutionize Your Advantage with McLean Forrester
Choosing McLean Forrester for your Vertical GenAI journey means partnering with a leader in transformative technology solutions. Our understanding and expertise in Vertical Generative AI reflect our commitment to emerging technology excellence, offering a comprehensive, strategic path to business transformation and market leadership.
Together, let’s challenge the status quo of antiquated information processing methods and leapfrog into emerging Vertical GenAI capabilities to accelerate the market advantage of your organization.
