The arrival of OpenAI's ChatGPT and generative AI only a few years after the hype cycle over the metaverse has attracted both the AI bulls and bears as tech pursues its next big thing. The metaverse came with NFTs, an extension of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, and for now, it's all looking like the hype cycle warning is a good thing to heed. One thing is certain: Silicon Valley needs a next big thing, as the industry is seeing a contraction unlike anything it has experienced over the past decade, with tech leading layoffs in the economy and cost-cutting now the norm for the one sector which has been accustomed to operating with a blank check from investors. At a CNBC Technology Executive Council virtual Town Hall on Thursday, we gathered technology executives at companies across the economy -- specifically, many at companies using AI but not creating it, for example, in retail, media, legal, agriculture and logistics. We gathered a roughly equal number of AI enthusiasts and skeptics, and broke them up into groups to discuss the sudden explosion of interest in ChatGPT, and to separate as best as they could the hype from the reality.