Enterprise Companies and Generative AI: Just Watch?

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This week I’m diving takes a closer look at what generative AI may or may not mean for business buyers. I also have some notes on why your company might want to be like Figma, and how the investing side of the market is adjusting to downturns that are the new normal. — Anna

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When The Exchange looked at Battery Ventures cloud software spending report, we began to focus on what the title promised: new data on cloud software spending. And it turned out to be more encouraging than we expected.

Next, we looked at another piece of good news for founders: that startups building technology to automate tasks and reap quick productivity gains could steer clear of the downturn. It was based on a report data point that showed automation had become one of the company budget priorities.

But in the back of my mind I also kept thinking about some of the comments in the report about generative AI – and not just because superlatives on the subject have since become ubiquitous.

You could at least call Battery’s view of generative AI conservative, but that would be unfair. After all, the VC firm only relayed findings from its Q1 survey, which gathered responses from 100 C-suite execs (CXOs) who manage about $30 billion in spending.