Indian, Chinese companies take lead in AI use: IBM report

Indian and Chinese companies are taking lead in use of AI compared to peers in major technically-advanced countries.

New Delhi: Indian and Chinese companies are taking lead in use of artificial intelligence compared to their peers in major technically-advanced countries, an IBM survey report said on Thursday. According to the survey, 35 per cent of companies globally reported using AI in their business and when compared with 2021, organisations are 13 per cent more likely to have adopted AI in 2022. "Chinese and Indian companies are leading the way, with nearly 60 per cent of IT professionals in those countries saying their organisations already actively use AI, compared with lagging markets like South Korea (22 per cent), Australia (24 per cent) the US (25 per cent) and the UK (26 per cent)," IBM's Global AI Adoption Index 2022 said.

It said that IT professionals in the financial services, media, energy, automotive, oil and aerospace industries are most likely to report their companies have actively deployed AI, while organisations in industries such as retail, travel and government/ federal services and healthcare are the least likely.

The survey was conducted from March 30-April 12, 2022, among a sample of 7,502 senior business decision-makers with some influence over their company's IT decisions, including 500 respondents each in the US, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, China, India, Singapore, Australia, Canada, UAE, and South Korea, and 1,000 respondents in across the Latin America region (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Peru), the report said.

"Fifty-seven per cent of IT professionals in India report that their organisations have actively deployed AI in their business, and over a quarter (27 per cent) indicate that their organizations are exploring the use of AI. Adoption is being driven by advances that make AI more accessible for companies (50 per cent), and the increasing amount of AI embedded into standard off the shelf business applications (46 per cent)," the report said.

The survey found that over 50 per cent of IT professionals in India at companies exploring or deploying AI say their organisations plan to invest in research and development (56 per cent), building proprietary AI solutions (54 per cent) and reskilling and workforce development (52 per cent) in the next year.

"The greatest barrier to successful AI adoption, according to IT professionals in India at organisations exploring or deploying AI, is limited AI skills, expertise or knowledge (38 per cent)," the report said.