AI often provokes strong reactions, with people predicting either a utopia in the near future or the end of the world as we know it.
Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy told Business Insider that individuals outside of the hype tend to be quick to jump on the promise of endless prosperity. The CEO said the other extreme includes those who believe AI will bring about doomsday scenarios.
Ramaswamy said that while this kind of thinking is “very human,” both scenarios are “very unlikely.”
“I think the biggest misconception is to think of AI as all-or-nothing,” Ramaswamy said.
He said the real value of AI is subtle and will likely emerge in specific use cases. Ramaswamy added that the advice to customers is to be “very gradual” in implementing AI.
He remains focused on long-term thinking, but added that he no longer accepts fixed multi-year roadmaps for the company's plans because technology changes so quickly.
“I want them to tell me where they're going, but I want them to stay in this iterative mode, because this world is changing rapidly,” Ramaswamy said.
The CEO said AI needs to be embraced as a change in the way people work, and progress needs to be made “in small increments,” rather than as a tool that will bring about sweeping changes overnight. He added that a clear framework is needed to determine where AI efforts are most important.
For example, cloud data platform companies like Snowflake are focused on building and running software, and Ramaswamy said they need to “establish” how that software is created, deployed, sold and installed. This means AI must be deeply integrated into software development to remain competitive.
Ramaswamy said he wants employees to use AI tools on a daily basis, but said the end goal is to enable the company to create software more efficiently than other companies in the industry. To do this, he said, business models need to be adapted in specific areas, rather than treating AI as a blanket rewrite.
He said that when dealing with a technology like AI that “ostensibly claims to change everything”, it is essential to have a clear view of where changes need to be introduced and where the impact “lies”.
“We are very concerned about making sure we are at the cutting edge, especially in key areas of how we leverage AI,” Ramaswamy said.
