Artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted from a bold experiment to a strategic necessity. Recent studies show that 88% of C-level decision-makers want to accelerate AI adoption in 2025. Yet, just a fraction of AI initiatives delivers the expected results.

Did you hear about the self-driving Uber car that hit and killed a woman in Arizona? On another occasion, a facial recognition solution profiled an innocent man of color as a criminal in New Jersey, and Amazon’s AI-powered recruitment tool displayed bias against female candidates.

An inmate at a New York correctional facility, Glenn Rodriguez, was due for parole soon. The man had demonstrated excellent behavior and eagerly anticipated his release to embark on a fresh start. To Glenn’s dismay, the board denied him parole.

TL;DR Many companies rush into generative AI without realizing just how steep—and unpredictable—the associated expenses can be. Meanwhile, the cost of implementing generative AI in business can range from $0.0005 per 1,000 text units (tokens or characters) if you use a popular commercially available Gen AI tool to over $190,000 for a fully custom solution based on a fine-tuned open-source model.

2024 proved to be a watershed moment for generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI). A few months after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, McKinsey researchers revealed that one-third of companies were already using generative AI in at least one business function.