How’s this for a scenario: Nearly 5,000 C-level executives and directors walk into a bar…and talk about their biggest tech predictions and struggles. Minus the bar part, that’s what Accenture aimed to re-create for its latest global tech survey and report.

With survey respondents from 25 industries and 34 countries, the report predicts which factors will power tech trends over the next decade—including generative AI, digital identity, and data usage. Here are some top takeaways for business:

The value of generative AI: Executives are bullish on generative AI—at least according to Accenture’s report. About 96% of respondents said they were “very or extremely inspired by” large AI models’ newer capabilities, and 98% predicted the models would “play an important role” in their company’s business strategy over the next three to five years.

Data practices and processes: The ability to authenticate customers’ identities online seems to be a top priority for executives—85% said it is “becoming a strategic business imperative,” and three in four respondents said that customer authentication issues have negatively impacted their company’s bottom line in the form of abandoned transactions, user frustration, and more.

Keep reading here.—HF

As new AI chat tools continue to generate waves of hype, worry, and wonder, how’s this for a prompt to try out on ChatGPT: How will finance professionals really be using AI tools like ChatGPT in the next few years?

Sorting out the potential from the pitfalls is going to take time, especially as the tech improves and evolves. We recently spoke with Glenn Hopper, director at Eventus Advisory Group and author of Deep Finance: Corporate Finance in the Information Age, about how finance departments might use AI tech, and what finance professionals will need to consider to prepare themselves for the possible risks and ROIs of AI in the workplace.

Keep reading here.—DA

Stat: A study of 760,000+ US inventors and their patent outputs found that after joining a large company, inventors produced between 6% and 11% fewer innovations, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Quote: “The only way that realistic fakery has been possible in the past to the level we’re seeing now daily was in Hollywood studios.”—Henry Ajder, a member of the European advisory council for Meta’s Reality Labs, to Insider about AI-generated images

Read: NYT’s deep dive on the impact and energy demand of 34 US Bitcoin mines.

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Catch up on the top Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• Survey: Most higher-income workers report interacting with AI at work
• What businesses can learn from this year’s Stanford AI Index
• Consumers aren’t connecting their smart appliances to the internet