Report: Corporate AI Usage Balloons 270 Pct In Four-Year Span

A new report has revealed that the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in companies grew 270 percent in the past four years.

Gartner’s 2019 CIO Survey gathered data from more than 3,000 CIO respondents in 89 countries and all major industries, representing around $15 trillion in revenue/public-sector budgets and $284 billion in IT spending.

During the survey, AI was the most mentioned technology, becoming the “top game-changer technology” ahead of data and analytics. In addition, 37 percent responded that they already deployed AI technology or that deployment was included in the company’s short-term planning. In fact, AI now comes in second, behind cybersecurity (88 percent).

“Four years ago, AI implementation was rare; only 10 percent of survey respondents reported that their enterprises had deployed AI or would do so shortly. For 2019, that number has leapt to 37 percent — a 270 percent increase in four years,” Chris Howard, research vice president at Gartner, said in a press release. “If you are a CIO and your organization doesn’t use AI, chances are high that your competitors do and this should be a concern.”

Gartner explained that the jump in AI implementation is the result of the technology’s significant maturation, which makes enterprises more comfortable implementing it. “We still remain far from general AI that can wholly take over complex tasks, but we have now entered the realm of AI-augmented work and decision science — what we call ‘augmented intelligence,’” Howard added.

However, companies are facing a tough time when it comes to finding talent with experience in AI. The survey found that about 54 percent of respondents said that they considered that to be the biggest challenge facing their organization.

“In order to stay ahead, CIOs need to be creative,” Howard said. “If there is no AI talent available, another possibility is to invest in training programs for employees with backgrounds in statistics and data management. Some organizations also create job shares with ecosystem and business partners.”