Product or Feature? A Key AI Debate Could Leave CIO Strategies in Limbo

Many AI products will end up being built into other software or platforms, making it easier for CIOs to navigate the constantly changing marketplace. Until then, due diligence is vital. The rapidly evolving AI ecosystem, where new products and services seem to appear daily, presents CIOs and IT purchasing leaders with increasingly challenging decisions, in part because of uncertainty about where the AI market may ultimately be headed. One major debate, with implications for CIOs and IT buyers, is whether AI will primarily be a product or a feature after the AI market sorts itself out. On the one side are AI pure-plays offering niche and often task- or industry-specific point solutions, as well as AI generalists such as OpenAI, Meta, and Google, whose standalone large language models (LLMs) can be integrated with other IT systems. On the other side, IT vendors such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, and many cybersecurity providers are rapidly adding AI features to enhance and transform their core products. A third option, where end-user companies build their own AI tools, seems to be seems to be imperiled, at least for now, by a huge majority of AI proof-of-concept projects failing. Click here to read what Gulce Karsli-Rozenveld, CEO of the online flight booking service Oojo, has to share.