Artificial intelligence and machine learning represent IT’s second most important spending initiative in 2023, behind only cybersecurity, with 63% of IT decision makers saying they plan to increase their investments in those technologies, according to research by TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group.1
It also indicates that AI is one of the applications that IT decision makers would prefer not to run on the public cloud, with nearly 30% of respondents saying AI would not be a candidate for the public cloud. Among respondents in highly regulated industries such as financial services and healthcare, that percentage is even higher.
Generative AI is a use case getting a lot of attention among IT decision makers because of the growing popularity of applications such as ChatGPT. Generative AI is a subfield of AI in which computer algorithms are used to generate outputs that resemble human-created content. In generative AI, algorithms are designed to learn from training data that includes examples of the desired output. By analyzing the patterns and structures within the training data, generative AI models can produce new content that shares characteristics with the original input data.
The right server for generative AI is not always an obvious choice. While some specialized resources may be necessary for use cases like model development, modern servers such as the latest generation of Dell Technologies PowerEdge Servers can deliver an energy-efficient, high-performance outcome for most of the AI workstream.
Furthermore, new generative AI cloud-served applications such as ChatGPT may prevent enterprises from trusting their data into the cloud. A more manageable approach is where companies can control their data and operations and deploy the best-performance platforms for driving generative AI initiatives.
Research by Scalers AI disproves the myth that only specialized AI servers can meet the demands of AI applications. The company, which specializes in creating end-to-end AI solutions, created a smart city environment to evaluate real-world server performance. It concluded that Dell PowerEdge R760 servers powered by 4th Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors can handle a wide range of tasks, including AI, and generally are more energy efficient and reliable than specialized hardware.2
This article looks at where organizations are deploying generative AI and why modern Dell PowerEdge servers powered by 4th Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors are a smart investment decision to drive intelligent insights and faster time to results. It also discusses the value of working with a vendor that offers a full portfolio of servers purpose built to accelerate the training-intensive phases of the generative AI workstream.
Use cases for generative AI
Use of generative AI is still in its early stages. Many enterprises are still learning where it can be used most effectively and, just as important, where it should not be used, at least at this stage of development.
As TechTarget notes, “Organizations must meticulously select the most suitable application areas and establish governance and oversight to reduce the risk.”3 It cites four of the most viable use cases for generative AI investments in 2023:
Customer engagement: Generative AI is more accurate than typical conversational chatbots and more adept at understanding tone and reactions. It can improve a company’s customer engagement quality, availability and responsiveness with conversational AI, providing an attractive substitute for manually run call centers.
Improved decision-making: The technology converts natural language questions into SQL queries that are run through a company's databases to craft answers users can understand. This improves efficiency and agility by enabling companies to make better real-time decisions or ask additional questions to find more complete answers.
Faster coding: Large language models are precise in various languages, including programming languages. Programmers creating new software code and accompanying documentation could benefit from generative AI by reducing the time it takes to write code by as much as 50%, leading to faster IP development and potentially improving the customer experience.4
Optimized content and products: Generative AI can save businesses time and resources by automatically creating product descriptions, marketing campaigns, social media posts and other new content. Companies can also use the technology to analyze existing product designs and generate new designs based on data.
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As noted above, Scalers AI tested Dell PowerEdge R760 servers powered by 4th Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors in a smart city traffic safety solution designed to maximize CPU utilization. In building the testing environment, it highlighted the importance of well-rounded performance and scalability: “Modern applications need fast processing speeds, efficient resource use, and the ability to handle large amounts of data and traffic in order to provide a smooth and efficient user experience. They must also be able to adapt and scale to meet changing needs and operate in a flexible, resilient and highly responsive manner.”
The testing concluded that Dell PowerEdge R760 servers, equipped with 4th Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, were up to the task of handling a wide range of applications, including AI workloads.
Scalers AI noted that the Dell PowerEdge R760 server is “ideal for real-world applications that demand top-notch performance across a variety of workloads, from AI and complex analytics to user interfaces and experience. Dell PowerEdge R760 servers have us covered for our industry-specific solutions for development, including transfer learning and deployment with the need to handle AI, data management, web applications, media processing or even something else.”
An additional factor in choosing servers is support for a full suite of GPUs to deliver maximum performance for generative AI and other high-performance AI use cases such as modeling and simulations. This is another area where Dell Technologies offers a competitive advantage, with support for a comprehensive stack of GPUs across the Dell PowerEdge portfolio, as discussed in “Bringing Generative AI to the Enterprise.”
Another advantage for customers is the opportunity to use Dell Validated Solutions for AI and Generative AI and leverage the benefits of the Dell PowerEdge XE9680, designed specifically to meet the needs of demanding AI applications.
Taking the next step
Generative AI has the potential to be a game changer for companies that can get ahead of the curve and harness its potential. Choosing the right server platform is an important step. For more information on how Dell and Intel® can help you build a long-term foundation for generative AI use cases, please visit Dell Technologies.
1 “2023 Technology Spending Intentions Survey,” TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group, November 2022
2 “Myth-Busting: Are CPUs Powerful Enough to Run AI?” Scalers AI, February 2023
3 “Generative AI in the enterprise: Lessons learned,” TechTarget CIO, May 4, 2023
4 Ibid.
