- The generative AI market doubled in size in 2024 and is expected to reach or exceed $100 billion by 2028.
- In 2024, only 22% of large companies had deployed generative AI at scale.
- A major challenge for companies in 2025 is to move from testing phases to global deployments.
Paris, February 4, 2024 – Sopra Steria Next, the consultancy division of the Sopra Steria Group, a major player in European technology, publishes the second edition of its study on the global generative AI market (first edition available here). This study, "Generative AI – From Exploration to Impact," explores the dynamics of the generative artificial intelligence market, the challenges to be met, and the opportunities to maximize the value of generative AI.
At a glance:
- 2024 was a year of technological acceleration for generative AI with unprecedented investment levels and the emergence of more advanced and varied solutions.
- Some disappointment among companies, with only 1 in 5 managing to deploy a first use case at scale, despite the proliferation of prototypes ("POCs").
- A confirmation of the generative AI market projection to $100 billion by 2028.
Fabrice Asvazadourian, CEO of Sopra Steria Next, commented: "2024 stands out as a year of contrast: on one hand, there is technological dynamism and a wealth of AI solutions; on the other, companies are still striving for maturity to fully embrace this revolution. The path is set, but widespread adoption remains a challenge. To succeed, it is no longer enough to simply conduct experiments: the focus now must be on consolidating the foundations, prioritizing the integration of solutions, and concentrating on their tangible impact. The coming months will be decisive in turning this technological momentum into a true driver of process and business reinvention.”
2024, a year of acceleration for the generative AI market
Fabrice Asvazadourian continued: "2024 marks a turning point for generative AI. On one hand, its growth has accelerated dramatically, with nearly a doubling of investments from major tech players in AI infrastructure and GenAI labs, and on the other hand, Nvidia has been able to meet the surge in demand for its GPUs. With the recent announcements from Amazon, Stargate, and Meta, we can confirm that this trend of massive investment will continue into 2025 and beyond."
At the same time, generative AI labs have succeeded in bringing increasingly advanced and varied solutions to market. As a result, the market reference ChatGPT counts 250 million weekly users and a monthly traffic that has more than doubled in a year (to 3.7 billion uses in October 2024) and now exceeds that of Google. OpenAI's revenues followed a similar trend, rising from $1.6 billion in 2023 to $3.7 billion in 2024. However, these figures also highlight the difficulty of increasing the share of paying users and upgrading them.
These data allow Sopra Steria Next to estimate that the generative AI market more than doubled in 2024, reaching between $20 and $25 billion in revenues and confirming its projections for the generative AI market, which is expected to reach at least $100 billion by 2028 in the central scenario.
But many obstacles remain within companies
Despite this technological boom, only 22% of large companies managed to deploy at least one generative AI use case at scale in 2024. While progress is significant compared to the previous year (3% of large companies in 2023), the proportion remains modest with nearly 4 out of 5 companies that have yet to reach this milestone. IT, supply chain, risk and fraud management, and customer service are the areas most successful in deploying initial generative AI solutions.
These difficulties in large-scale adoption can be explained by several factors:
- Insufficient data governance, preventing companies from fully exploiting the potential of AI.
- Organizational and technical barriers in bringing together all necessary expertise.
- An issue of advanced skill development – Most companies have implemented AI and prompting training, but they still face two major obstacles: difficulty in recruiting AI experts and a lack of effective communication between business teams and specialized engineers.
Bruno Maillot, Head of the AI for Business practice at Sopra Steria Next, commented: “Companies face a paradox: they are fully aware of the potential of generative AI, but still find it difficult to industrialize it and extract tangible value from it. These blockages are not technological but primarily organizational and operational. The Klarna case proves very well that a company can deploy AI solutions tailored to its needs and generate tangible impact on its results, on employee adoption, and on customer satisfaction. At Sopra Steria Next, we support our clients in overcoming these obstacles and embedding generative AI in a dynamic of sustainable and profitable transformation.”
From exploration to impact
To support its clients in this transformation, Sopra Steria Next has identified four strategic axes with the aim of accelerating the adoption of generative AI:
- Focus on tangible impact on the P&L – Successfully deploy the most mature generative AI solutions at scale and win the battle of daily use by employees.
- Explore the possibilities of agentive AI – Move from "Text-to-Text" to "Speak-to-Action," and move towards an integrated and personalized multi-task approach: "Smart Lean".
- Learn to combine different generative AI models – Know how to use multiple generative AI models and make them work together to optimize the Cost / Performance / Speed / ESG footprint quadrant.
- Ensure ethical and responsible AI deployment at scale – Possibility of using synthetic data to improve and simplify data management, and of course integrate AI regulation (AI Act).
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