BrazilIndia and the UAE lead globally in adoption of AI and Gen AI
When it comes to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in business, India and the UAE take the prize for the highest level of adoption globally. That is according to a comprehensive study from IBM.
Large companies have increasingly been adopting AI tools among in recent years as the innovative technology comes to maturity. Around 42% of companies surveyed by IBM and subsidiary IBM Consulting said they have already integrated AI into their business models.
AI adoption remains a key priority for enterprises, with nearly all enterprises increasing their investments in AI solutions. While challenges still persist, many companies are looking to the positive side of AI, which offers value creation and a potential solution to labor shortages.
A total of 59% of IT professionals reported that their companies were deploying or exploring AI and that their companies have boosted investment in the last two years. Besides India and the UAE, China was also high on the list of countries that have been accelerating their AI rollout.
The AI investment can be seen across most industries. Among those, the automotive industry stands out as having the most accelerated roll out of AI, with other industries like manufacturing and financial services not very far behind.
The survey shows that India and the UAE are the front runners when it comes to AI strategy. A total of 52% of IT professionals polled in the UAE said that their companies had a holistic strategy in place for embedding AI across their organizations. For India, 42% of IT professionals said the same.
Many more IT professionals reported that AI strategies are indeed already in place in their organizations, but only in specific areas or for specific use cases. Some of the top AI use cases are in areas like automation of IT processes, security and threat detection, and governance.
While the positive sides of AI are clear to see for most business leaders, there are also some clear risks involved in adopting AI without paying close attention to potential pitfalls.
The top concern identified by the survey is data privacy, with more than half of respondents noting it as worrisome. Other concerns included lack of skills for implementation and a lack of trust and transparency.
Since GenAI tools like ChatGPT have emerged, the last few years have seen a huge boom in the use of these tools in a wide range of use cases. But some have been blowing the whistle on AI for legitimate concerns over data privacy, inaccurate outputs, biases in the models, and the potential for workers to be replaced by AI.
Despite those concerns, most large companies see AI as an imperative and many appear to be rushing to get in on the trend before it is too late.
“We’re seeing that the early adopters who overcame barriers to deploy AI are making further investments, proving to me that they are already experiencing the benefits from AI,” said Rob Thomas, senior vice president at IBM.
“We see organizations leveraging AI for use cases where I believe the technology can most quickly have a profound impact like IT automation, digital labor, and customer care. For the 40% of companies surveyed stuck in the sandbox, I am confident 2024 will be the year of tackling and overcoming barriers to entry, like the skills gap and data complexity.”
