From founder meetings to board meetings, Generative AI has firmly grabbed a seat at the table, in small ways and big. Set to transform how content is created and distributed, it has won the attention – and investment – of companies across the world.  Gen AI has gone from being the flavour of the month for startups to becoming a true competitive edge, and in many cases, table stakes for large enterprises.  In the world of startups, we’ve seen many companies, including ones in our portfolio, leverage AI and Gen AI to enhance their marketing capabilities. Perhaps you’ve come across KYRA and NATASHA, the virtual influencers, or maybe many product ads generated by AI. The multicrore budget of celebrity shoots has now been neatly collapsed into a single, highly sophisticated piece of code. From hyper-personalised marketing, and vernacular communication, to personalised product suggestions, and automated post-purchase query resolution, Gen AI has a crucial role to play at every step. Brands who step up to leverage it today, can build a competitive advantage before the rest of the world catches up, and like automation or cloud computing, it ends up becoming the norm rather than the innovation. Not to be left behind, India, too, is home to a bunch of companies building Gen AI solutions for Indian and international brands, with over 60 active startups in the space, and a 12X increase in funding over the previous year.  4 reasons why the timing is right Time was when Gen AI was only for academia, incubation centres inside large tech companies, and a handful of Silicon Valley startups. Now access is available easily, leading to a wide range of commercial uses, due to: Access to open source foundation models: Llama, GPT-4, Gemini (formerly BARD)  Access to cheaper compute: Cloud platforms optimised for AI training  Ease of use (LLM accessibility, improved UI/UX): Gemini, DALL-E 3, GPT-4 Specific use cases: Multiple business use cases built on top of existing open sour