Abstract:

Within two months of launching, ChatGPT put generative AI (GenAI) technology into the hands of an estimated 100 million people, breaking records as one of the fastest-growing services in history (Porter, 2023). While the technology itself wasn?t new, the widespread access to this technology led to an unprecedented uptick in conversations speculating on its risks and opportunities. Some hailed it as a revolutionary technology capable of almost any task, while others expressed concerns about the consequences of its adoption. The concerns have not been unfounded: in many instances, implementing GenAI has posed a variety of challenges, especially for enterprises, ranging from security breaches and privacy questions to hallucinations and misleading outputs. At the same time, methodical and intentional use has shown that it can reduce the burden on insights professionals and offer consumers more personalised journeys.

Nearly two years after the launch of ChatGPT, the preliminary results suggest that the truth about GenAI lies somewhere in the middle. In the enterprise domain, companies who have taken an approach of responsible experimentation have seen promising results. Burberry, the British luxury fashion house, is one such company. Crowned as the Best Data & Analytics Team in the UK (dataIQ^TM, 2023), Burberry?s insights team has tested, trialled and implemented a series of pioneering initiatives, showcasing how GenAI can reshape both traditional and luxury-specific challenges into opportunities for growth and innovation. As the pressure increases on businesses to ensure that they do not fall behind in today?s rapidly evolving technological landscape, the learnings from the team at Burberry can offer real-world value, both to insights teams and the organisations in which they work.