The OpenAI dust-up foretells a larger shake-out coming in the AI tech marketplace, where an over-investment in Generative AI is presently overshadowing the longer-term viability of Insights AI and Decisioning AI, according to vendor evaluation research released today by independent analyst firm Real Story Group (RSG).

RSG's new research stream critically evaluates twenty AI vendors with a marketing technology (MarTech) lens, critically assessing them against eight major use cases likely to be deployed by large enterprise customers.  Those eight use cases fall into three categories with MarTech relevance:

1. Generative AI
2. Insights AI
3. Decisioning AI

AI for Marketing - Logo Landscape; click to enlarge.  Source: RSG

The MarTech AI vendor marketplace splits into three categories:

1. Generative Specialists
2. Multi-function suites bound to a MarTech vendor's portfolio
3. Multi-function suites reliant on the vendor's cloud infrastructure

The first category has seen greater energy and experimentation in 2023 but also finds most vendors over-leveraged and susceptible to a shake-out in 2024. Meanwhile, other MarTech vendors have made big bets on AI, but their offerings tend to be narrowly focused and poorly integrated.

"RSG's enterprise subscribers tell us that once they get beyond the pilot phase with AI, questions of integration and ROI rise to the fore," points out RSG Vice President for Research Apoorv Durga, "and so far, no single vendor has a compelling story about cost-effectively addressing the full AI lifecycle for marketers."