Don’t let “AI FOMO” lead you down an IP dead end

The allure of AI is undeniable, says Kasia Borowska at Brainpool AI, but businesses must resist the urge to leap without looking

 

Have you considered your intellectual property (IP) is impacted when implementing AI in your business? For creatives, content creators, media publishers and others it’s been a hot topic. Yet many businesses overlook the importance of safeguarding their IP when adopting AI solutions.

 

The buzz around AI and its undeniable transformative potential has led many companies to rush into adoption. However, those succumbing to "AI FOMO" often surrender their IP to large language model (LLM) providers, exposing themselves to a host of long-term risks and barriers to success.

 

The true measure of an AI-enabled enterprise will not be determined in the next year, but over the next 20 years. Rushing into adoption without a clear strategy can leave businesses at a disadvantage, leading to dead ends that erode competitive edges as AI initiatives falter. Protecting your IP is essential to avoiding these pitfalls—yet it remains an afterthought for many swept up in the AI hype.

 

The danger of off-the-shelf AI applications 

In order to capitalise on the AI hype, almost half of businesses leverage off-the-shelf AI solutions. These pre-built AI solutions can be used without requiring businesses to develop their own technology and are designed to be easily integrated into a business. They are often the favoured choice for many because they offer quick deployment and lower up-front costs. 

 

However, despite their efficient exterior - these solutions are not as beneficial as they appear. When utilising off-the shelf AI tools and applications firms completely surrender their own IP. Whilst there has been considerable concerns raised about the likes of OpenAI training their models on users’ data, less has been made of the long term implications of IP loss. 

 

Firms may experience initial success when using such applications, but what constitutes now versus in five, ten or twenty years time will dramatically different. Chasing short term benefits with off the shelf applications will mean businesses have far less flexibility to adapt and develop their approach to AI in the future. Without ownership of your own IP, firms not only lose control and the ability to mould their use of AI to their businesses however that may change in the future.

 

A cookie cutter approach to AI implementation will consistently fail to see and understand the nuance of an individual business and its specific requirements. Thereby, producing AI applications that don’t deliver desired accuracy rates, eroding trust in the technology and leading employees to abandon tools that were supposed to enhance productivity

 

The rapid rate of AI development means that realising long term success from AI, is not a tick box activity and will require constant development. Firms that don’t own their own IP will experience significant barriers when looking to remain competitive in an increasingly AI driven business landscape. At the end of the day, it is crucial to remember that this is your data, it is your context, it therefore should be your IP.

 

Building an agnostic AI infrastructure 

To avoid the perils of AI FOMO, businesses have to embrace an agnostic approach to AI. Agnostic AI is a curated methodology that allows businesses to pick the optimal =to achieve their desired outcome. This method yields lower compute requirements, higher accuracy and provides businesses with a solution that they can evolve alongside technological advancements.

 

Those that take a step back and have a long-term view of AI implementation will see the clear benefits of avoiding jumping straight into utilising off the shelf models. Instead, building an agnostic AI model will allow businesses to tap into the most cost-effective and optimal LLM for each use case. This will also allow businesses to tailor each use case to a specific domain to improve the effectiveness of the model.

 

Utilising an agnostic AI infrastructure empowers businesses to retain IP ownership and remain agile and versatile, enabling firms to fine-tune different LLMs to solve unique problems. Rather than relying on a single model to address all challenges, businesses can leverage multiple LLMs to provide tailored solutions and select the most cost-effective and efficient models for each specific problem.

 

An agnostic approach will also allow businesses to be agile in the face of the ever-changing AI landscape, keeping up with changing market dynamics and regulatory requirements. This approach provides businesses with the freedom and flexibility to switch or update tools as regulations and rival firms evolve to ensure they maintain their competitive edge and are consistently compliant

 

The allure of AI is undeniable, but businesses must resist the urge to leap without looking. Succumbing to AI FOMO often leads to dead ends and doesn’t give businesses the tools to achieve long term success with AI implementation. By taking a thoughtful approach—avoiding one-size-fits-all tools, protecting IP, and embracing an agnostic AI strategy—businesses can position themselves for sustainable success in the AI era.

 

Your data. Your context. Your IP. Building a foundation with these principles in mind is the key to thriving in an AI-driven future.

 

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Kasia Borowska is MD and Co-Founder of Brainpool AI

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Oleksandr Hruts