AI only at its infancy, says top technology expert

However, Mostaque is not the only to share the view that AI is still in its early days. Business Insider also reported that, during the call, Michael Briest, head of European technology research at UBS, claimed that only about 6 percent of earnings calls this year have made mention of AI, while around a quarter of companies in the software sector have done so.

That number is set to increase significantly if Mostaque is to be believed. He speculates that 50 percent of all CEOs will make mention of AI by next year. 

He points to the fact that AI has primarily been focused on consumers thus far as can be noticed by systems such as ChatGPT plugins, Microsoft's integration of AI into Bing, Google's introduction of its AI chatbot Bard, as well as Stability AI's text-to-image generator.

Once AI gets past the consumer, argued Mostaque, we will see a significant rise in development. "This is the calm before the storm because the models aren't quite enterprise-ready," he said.

When AI finally makes its debut at an enterprise level, it will ignite a fierce competition among rival firms across sectors far beyond Silicon Valley. This will in turn push AI penetration further along than has ever been experienced before.

"Once your competitors start implementing it, you have to keep up due to the productivity gains and due to the competitive pressure," Mostaque said, adding that it won't take "a huge amount of time" for companies to train AI models given the vast amount of data they already posess.

"You just need to have the right models in the right way to enable these outcomes that increase productivity," he said.

Mostaque even went so far as to note that those that ignore AI’s revolution will be penalized. "You'll see the market punishing those that don't use this,” said the executive according to Business Insider.