SAP plans to use OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot amid quarterly revenue growth

Enterprise software maker SAP on Friday reported first-quarter revenue above analysts’ expectations, buoyed by growth in its cloud business, but downgraded its full-year outlook due to the sale of its Qualtrics unit.

SAP, which in January announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs as it sought to cut costs, plans no more restructuring this year and plans to use artificial intelligence technologies like generative AI in its products. .

While tougher economic conditions have annoyed big tech companies, SAP still managed to boost revenue by 10% in the first quarter to 7.44 billion euros (around Rs. 60,700 crore), beating a consensus provided by the company.

He said he was working with OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, backed by Microsoft, which can provide human answers to questions.

We’ve been studying ChatGPT for a while…we’ve built over 50 AI use cases, integrating them into our technology,” CEO Christian Klein said in an interview. These use cases will be available for clients next month after its annual Sapphire conference, he said.

SAP also has an internal committee of customers, researchers and analysts to check for bias in AI use cases and guard against potential misuse of the technology, Klein said.

Revenue from SAP’s lucrative cloud business rose 24% year-on-year, broadly in line with consensus. SAP has already updated the earnings of subsidiary Qualtrics, which it divested last month, from the current earnings report.

For the year, SAP forecasts non-IFRS operating profit in the range of €8.6 million to €8.9 billion (approximately Rs 70-73 crore), or Rs 200 million. euros (about 1,600 crore rupees) less than before. The cloud revenue forecast is expected to decline by €1.3 billion (approximately Rs 10,700 crore) to between €14 and €14.4 billion (approximately Rs 1.14,900 crore to 100 crore rupees).

“Underlying guidance is essentially unchanged, although updated to reflect the divestiture of Qualtrics,” Jefferies analysts wrote in a client note.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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