WINTER 2024

14
THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK
Joe Dysart
Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Thousand Oaks,
California. A journalist for 20 years, his articles have appeared in more than 40
publications, including The New York Times and The Financial Times of London.
During the past decade, his work has focused exclusively on ecommerce.
Telephone: 631-256-6602; web: www.joedysart.com; email: joe@dysartnewsfeatures.com
COMING SOON FOR FASTENER DISTRIBUTORS:
AI, EVERYWHERE...NO KIDDING
Responding to a new hunger for AI, some of the
biggest titans in software -- including Microsoft, Google
and Salesforce -- are coming out with new versions of their
software suites that will be completely reworked by AI.
The move -- which is expected to offer major gains
to fastener distributors who use these programs -- has
been triggered by the staggering popularity ChatGPT, the
wunderkind AI chatbot from OpenAI.
Since its release, the bot has continued to stun
the world with its ability to auto-generate clear, concise,
intelligent prose to virtually any question posed to it.
As more than a billion-and-a-half-plus monthly users
of ChatGPT already know, use of the chatbot involves
little more than typing-in a question -- and in a matter of
seconds -- getting back a lucid, erudite text response.
That ability to respond to virtually any question
has enabled the wonder-bot to easily pass bar exams,
medical exams, engineering exams and similar.
And that’s just for starters.
ChatGPT, and its underlying software engine, GPT-4,
has also been harnessed to auto-generate images and
photos, auto-translate text into multiple languages, autowrite
and auto-debug computer code, auto-create Web
sites, auto-create music, auto-explain complex topics,
auto-solve math problems, auto-serve as a virtual chat
companion -- and more.
All of these auto-generated tasks are usually
completed in a matter of seconds.
And all are created with nary a complaint by the
software.
It’s no wonder that the ChatGPT Web site is
averaging 1.6 billion visits-per-month, has set a record
CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLE
SOME OF THE BIGGEST TITANS IN SOFTWARE ARE COMING OUT
WITH NEW VERSIONS OF THEIR SUITES THAT WILL BE COMPLETELY
REWORKED BY AI.
for creating the fastest-growing user base ever and is
expected to generate $1 billion in revenue by the close
of 2024, according to ToolTester.com (www.tooltester.
com/en/blog/chatgpt-statistics/).
In a phrase: ChatGPT has set the world’s hair on
fire. And all the big -- and little -- guns of traditional
software want in.
Their plan: Take the magic of ChatGPT and repurpose
it for use with every software app imaginable.
“The reality is every company will undergo an
AI transformation to increase productivity, drive
efficiency, and deliver incredible customer and employee
experiences,” says Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce.
In practice, that means changing the focus
of ChatGPT, or software similar to ChatGPT, from
attempting to track, analyze and manipulate all the
world’s knowledge -- and instead focus that same AI on
tracking, analyzing and manipulating all the knowledge
generated by a specific company or organization.
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