The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) that can generate human-like data has been talked about for decades. Yet, data scientists have tackled this problem with little success. Pinpointing effective strategies for creating such systems has presented challenges that run the gamut from technical to ethical and everywhere in between. However, generative AI has emerged as a bright spot to watch. 

At its most basic, generative AI enables machines to use elements such as audio files, text, and images to produce content from speech, to writing, to artistry. According to tech investor Sequoia Capital, “Generative AI is well on the way to becoming not just faster and cheaper, but better in some cases than what humans create by hand,” according to a recent Tech Monitor interview.