Oct 30, 2024 | AI
The Progressive Rise of Generative AI: A Conversation With David Wong and Joel Hron
David Wong, chief product officer, Thomson Reuters, and Joel Hron, chief technology officer, Thomson Reuters, reflect on the growth of generative AI in the past year.
In honor of the one-year anniversary of the first episode of TechConnect, the latest episode highlights the progressive rise of generative AI In the past year.
“As fast as it started, it really feels like in the last year, there’s been an even more rapid acceleration, and many companies racing to become leaders in this field, including Thomson Reuters,” said Joel Hron, chief technology officer, Thomson Reuters.
Hron and David Wong, chief product officer, Thomson Reuters, shared their takes on the most significant advances in generative AI technology, including improvements in accessibility to the technology, with more developer tools alongside reduced costs and more out-of-the-box capabilities.
Wong said he’s most excited about large language models’ ability to have longer context windows, enabling them to keep more information in their short-term memory and answer ever-more complex questions.
“That’s critical for the way Thomson Reuters uses a lot of these models,” Wong said.
“The agentic behaviors of the models have become more robust in their ability to plan and ability to use reason over complex information,” Hron added.
They also discussed balancing the need to innovate and go fast with the need for ethical, responsible and high-quality AI development.
Wong noted how Thomson Reuters is best positioned to develop professional-grade AI, grounded in fact and data. He emphasized customers’ need for measurable solutions, so they can discern tools’ accuracy rates, as well as the need for security and privacy.
Wong said Thomson Reuters has the scale and infrastructure to understand customers’ needs and develop solutions to solve their biggest challenges, guided by a philosophy and process that ensures the right balance between moving fast and ensuring quality.
Hron said the company’s human-centric approach to AI development is key.
“Our human expertise at Thomson Reuters and the level of rigor and quality we put behind both our content and our products for many years has really been a cornerstone of our brand,” Hron said.
Hron said the iterations between technology and domain experts are crucial to how Thomson Reuters helps customers streamline their workflows with AI, such as with AI-Assisted Research on Westlaw Precision and CoCounsel Core.
They also highlighted the Thomson Reuters acquisition of Materia, an AI assistant and platform for accounting and auditing professionals.
“It’s a reinforcement of our belief in AI assistants being in the hands of every professional and a reinforcement of our commitment around AI across our entire product portfolio,” Hron said.
He added that Materia’s strengths have included leaning into the long context and multimodal capabilities of generative AI as well as enabling agentic behavior.
Hear more of Wong and Hron’s insights on Materia as well as the evolution of generative AI in the latest episode of the TechConnect series, which brings diverse and dynamic perspectives from all corners of the technology world with thought-provoking questions and conversation.
