Generating The Future: Natural Intelligence's Journey to Become an AI-first Business

For 15 years, Natural Intelligence has been synthesizing Google Search results, successfully distilling its vast and amorphous wealth of information into concise Top 10 lists. The company embarked on a mission to distill this abundance of data and condense it into 'top 10' lists across numerous business categories. The result is websites like top10.com and bestmoney.com, which organize information across dozens of categories, from home products to insurance and mortgages. This allows consumers to access all the necessary information and significantly streamlines the decision-making process, with the help of calculators and user reviews.

"With the advent of GenAI, Natural Intelligence is developing a new strategy. 'Recognizing the significant impact it will have on our business, we explored integrating it holistically and efficiently to boost productivity and drive innovation,' states Lior Schachter, CTO at Natural Intelligence. "As leaders in this field, our primary goal is to craft a strategy that effectively allocates our resources to ensure the success of this transformation process."

Partnering with Israeli Startups

Natural Intelligence's GenAI strategy is built on four main pillars. The first is 'Powering Efficiency' by integrating off-the-shelf AI tools, such as ChatGPT and Copilot, into their workflow. The company aims to achieve a 10 percent increase in productivity by year's end across key areas including development, marketing, business expansion, and more.

"To achieve the 10 percent target, we've formed a taskforce with members from each key department.," Schachter explains. "We meet weekly to assess opportunities and progress, address setbacks, and maintain a consistent focus on advancing GenAI throughout the organization. We use GenAI-based assistants across various areas for knowledge management and sharing among different teams. In the past year, we've developed dozens of such assistants. We feel that this represents a significant breakthrough and enhances our capabilities—from training junior employees to solving complex technical problems."

To ensure that all company members are on board and not deterred by new technology, we have developed a cross-company training program designed to make technology accessible to everyone. "Many new opportunities have opened up with these technologies. To harness the innovation they represent, it's essential to learn them thoroughly," says Schachter. "We've established a broad-based learning program, from an introduction to GenAI to advanced specialization per profession."

The second strategic pillar, 'Refining Core Products,' involves integrating GenAI technologies across our product portfolio, focusing on marketing and website content creation. Schachter notes, "We use these tools to generate and optimize text and images for ads, saving time and enhancing quality. Another focus is website development, where GenAI helps produce personalized content and images."

The third strategic pillar is 'Igniting Innovation.' The goal is to develop new products that, until recently, were considered impossible or at best a distant dream, especially for small to medium-sized companies. For example, IntentFlow, which deciphers customer intent from conversations, and Conversational Monetization, a product that aids in optimizing complex customer interactions. Another example is the chatbots integrated into our websites. While chatbots have always been around, they rarely delivered the desired results. GenAI now enables us to create high-quality chatbots with minimal effort.

The fourth strategic pillar, 'Steering the Future,' sees Natural Intelligence actively engaging with both major and emerging tech companies to stay at the cutting edge and capitalize on GenAI opportunities. The company engages in joint projects with Google Ads and Bing Ads ('As a company that spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on ads, it makes sense we closely collaborate with the world's leading advertising companies,' says Schachter) as well as technological projects with Google Cloud and OpenAI. "Our goal is to ensure we have access to the most advanced models in the field and that we don't face GPU resource issues. It's challenging to reach a state where we can fully pursue our GenAI ambitions without resource shortages," Schachter explains.

Do You Work with Israeli Companies?

"This is a very important area for us. We collaborate with Israeli startups and explore where we can build partnerships that create a win-win situation. We speak with quite a few startups and selectively choose those we work with. It's very exciting to see how fast, sharp, and consistently ahead of the curve Israeli ingenuity is."

Transforming Operations with GenAI

This strategy highlights Natural Intelligence's belief that GenAI marks a groundbreaking and exciting phase. Schachter reveals that the company already employs GenAI tools in its ongoing operations: "We have Excel spreadsheets that organize tasks across different sectors. GenAI manages these tasks with up to 80% less time required. Many routine tasks, executed dozens to hundreds of times monthly, are managed by GenAI. In sectors like insurance, where customers are asked detailed questions to provide the most accurate proposals, GenAI enhances efficiency and personalizes experiences. Consider the task of writing ad headlines: GenAI can propose ten options to the campaign manager, who selects some for A/B testing on Google. I'm confident that within a few months, we'll achieve full automation in some areas, though full automation will never be feasible in areas with high sensitivity and regulatory demands.'

"With the right strategic approach, we won't just adapt to the future; we'll shape it," he concludes. "These are capabilities that Israeli high-tech has always possessed. As a technology-driven business, it's crucial for us to seize the GenAI opportunity by continually enhancing productivity and delivering innovative products to our customers."

In collaboration with Natural Intelligence