Innovation around Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a nerve centre for Cognizant Technology Solutions as clients demand AI-based services. The company’s advanced AI lab has already produced 53 AI patents, and applications for many more are pending.
S Ravi Kumar, CEO of the US-based software company with a large employee base in India, said in the March quarter alone, seven new AI patents were approved and granted to the company. “In quarter one, we announced a series of new partnerships and co-innovations behind the strategy we announced last year to invest $1 billion in generative AI over three years. This includes our collaboration with Microsoft to infuse GenAI into healthcare administration,” he told analysts while discussing the first quarter financial results.
A US-based Grand View Research report says that the global AI market size was estimated at $197 billion in 2023 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 36.6 per cent from 2024 to 2030. The continuous research and innovation directed by tech giants drive the adoption of advanced technologies in industry verticals, such as automotive, healthcare, retail, finance, and manufacturing. For instance, in December 2023, Google LLC launched ‘Gemini’, a large language AI model made available in three sizes, namely, Gemini Nano, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Ultra. Gemini stands out from its competitors due to its native multimodal characteristics.
AI demand
Cognizant’s Kumar said there is increased demand for AI services across four key areas. First, customer and employee experience as clients seek to deliver improved interactions through hyper-personalisation. Second, content summarisation insights to empower decision-making. Third is about content generation and, finally, leveraging GenAI to accelerate innovation and technology development cycles, he said.
“We continue to see strong interest from clients as they assess proofs of concept and the return on investment of these opportunities. These efforts are supported by a recently launched advanced artificial intelligence lab in San Francisco where we are investing instead of the art core AI research, aiming to position us at the forefront of innovation in our industry. This builds upon our network of AI innovation studios in London, New York, San Francisco, Dallas and Bangalore,” he said.
Clinical research AI
By leveraging GenAI-infused models, clinical researchers can rapidly sift through extensive datasets, more accurately predict interactions between drug compounds and create new viable drug development pathways.
Cognizant also expanded its partnership with Google Cloud. Cognizant will adopt Gemini - a multimodal AI model that can reason across text, images, audio, video, and code - for Google Cloud in two ways. First, it will train Cognizant associates to use Gemini for software development assistance, and second, it will integrate Gemini’s advanced capabilities within Cognizant’s internal operations and platforms.
Using Gemini for Google Cloud, Cognizant’s developers will be equipped to write, test, and deploy code faster and more effectively with the help of AI-powered tools, improving the reliability and cost efficiency of building and managing client applications.
Over the next 12 months, Cognizant expects to upscale more than 70,000 cross-functional associates on Google Cloud’s AI offerings. This is another milestone in our Synapse initiative to upscale 1 million individuals globally by 2026, he said.