AI’s accelerating pace of innovation is nothing short of astounding. 

Today’s top artificial intelligence tech companies are on the forefront of this innovation.

And it’ll only continue to accelerate. A 2023 PwC analysis estimated that AI could contribute up to $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

How are you staying up to date with AI trends and developments? 

We talked with leaders in the startup community about how they are staying up-to-date with AI trends. Keep reading for actionable tips to accelerate your AI learnings.

1. Learn by Experimenting with AI and Your Historical Data

We leveraged years of donor behavior data to create highly accurate AI models that enhance engagement for nonprofits. Our Auction AI suggests “you might also like” items for bidders, increasing item views/clicks and proceeds effortlessly. We also found we could use these models to help our internal teams predict attrition and event readiness, optimizing interactions. With 15 years of supporting nonprofits, we’re excited to delve deeper, crafting AI to elevate supporter experiences and efficiency.

Stephanie Ragozzino, Chief Product Officer at OneCause

2. Follow AI Thought Leaders on Social Media

Besides deploying AI for our customers, I keep a curated list of AI leaders and developers that I follow on X. With the recent trends in AI leaning towards Generative AI and Large Language Models, I’d highlight the following accounts as helpful. Some of these also have weekly newsletters with curated updates that help condense information coming out from this space: Ben’s Bites, DAIR.AI, Sebastian Raschka, and Harrison Chase (Langchain).

Charlene Tay, Director of Data Science at The Engineered Innovation Group

3. Start a Company-Wide AI Initiative to Encourage Continuous Learning

Our company set an initiative at the beginning of the year for every department to “start with AI” for all their initiatives to try and find new ways we can use AI. We have monthly “show and tells” for departments to demonstrate new things they’ve worked on, particularly those that use AI. 

Additionally, our teams have weekly knowledge-share meetings to keep each other up-to-date with new trends they’ve heard about or explored. These two initiatives help make sure that we continue to be on the bleeding edge of AI.

Blake Burch, Co-Founder and CEO, Shipyard

4. Encourage Internal Collaboration, Invest in Training, and Engage in Research Communities  

One way we stay updated on AI developments and trends at our company is through continuous learning and collaboration. We encourage cross-functional teams that include AI experts, engineers, and domain specialists to work together. 

We also invest in ongoing training and development programs to ensure our employees understand AI’s potential impact on their roles and the business. Furthermore, we actively engage with AI research communities and attend industry conferences to remain at the forefront of AI advancements. 

This collaborative and learning-oriented approach helps us integrate AI effectively into our internal operations, product development, and customer experience to stay competitive and provide cutting-edge solutions.

Jay Toy, General Manager, 88stacks

5. Empower Your Team to Experiment with AI and Share Findings

We empower every member of our team to use AI and bring back the findings where it makes sense. Marketing and content creation is an obvious area for focus, but we are ultimately more interested in how we can truly integrate an AI engine with the QBench platform. Encouraging employees to experiment and learn brings trusted ideas right back to our product.

Trevor Ewen, COO, QBench

6. Stay Updated through Industry Events

Attending industry conferences related to AI developments is crucial. As AI developments are constantly changing and evolving, it’s important for companies to stay up-to-date with the latest trends. These trends can not only improve internal operations but also enhance the customer experience. 

That’s why we assign employees to continuously attend AI development conferences, summits, and workshops. At these events, thought leaders and experienced professionals share the importance of AI trends and how to best use them to your advantage in your company.

Max Wesman, Chief Operating Officer, GoodHire

If you are interested in exploring jobs at fast-growing tech companies in the Powderkeg community, be sure to check out our real-time job board for Tech Jobs in areas beyond Silicon Valley.

You can browse all of Powderkeg’s Top Artificial Intelligence Tech Companies, follow them for insights, or request an introduction to plug into your next big opportunity.