Despite the explosion of AI technologies in the business world over the past year, it seems that many are still reluctant to adopt them.
A report from Demon found that almost half (49%) of the 150 senior decision makers surveyed across various UK sectors are not confident in implementing AI tools in their business, citing concerns about data security and privacy as the main reasons for their reluctance.
To make matters worse, almost all organizations surveyed said they planned to implement AI within the next six months, creating a real headache for decision makers about how to overcome the technology's pitfalls.
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The report also shows that companies' investments in AI have increased by as much as 48% since 2021, in an effort to keep up with the competition. Daemon notes that this is atypical for technology spend, which “normally requires extensive evidence on return on investment (ROI) and procurement processes.”
The retail and transportation sectors appear particularly interested in AI, with 97% of such organizations saying they have adopted AI to some or significant extent. 91% of financial services surveyed said the same. But overall, 98% of all organizations have “some vision for using AI.”
In terms of how it is used, 60% of companies are working on using AI for analytics, 51% for automation and 40% for personalization. Further afield, companies hope to start using AI for chatbots (32%) and real-time optimization (40%) within the next six months. The implementation of AI for prediction and smart control systems is also planned for companies within the next 1-2 years.
It also seems that small businesses are actually more confident in implementing AI than large ones, especially when it comes to personalization and document processing. Daemon also suspects that larger organizations have a bigger target behind them from a cybersecurity perspective, making them more cautious about the security risks of AI.
Concerns center on AI's data security and privacy issues, as well as difficulties in finding a trusted AI vendor, being hampered by older technologies and lacking employees with the skills to use them.
However, the report also shows that organizations are working to address these issues so they can effectively implement AI in the coming year. This includes taking steps to close the skills gap (33%), improving the customer experience (29%) and moving away from legacy systems (28%).