Changing business needs due to COVID-19 driving AI adoption: IBM survey

According to the annual survey, while advances in AI are making it more accessible, some global businesses are still facing a multitude of challenges when it comes to adopting AI. Lack of skills or knowledge (39%), increasing data complexity and data silos (32%), and lack of tools for developing AI models (28%) are the top three barriers to AI adoption

Recent advances in artificial intelligence technology and the changing business needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic are driving the adoption of AI, according to new market research commissioned by IBM.

The "Global AI Adoption Index 2021," survey conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of IBM, sheds light on the deployment of AI across 5,501 businesses in China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Peru), Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

According to the annual survey, while advances in AI are making it more accessible, some global businesses are still facing a multitude of challenges when it comes to adopting AI. Lack of skills or knowledge (39%), increasing data complexity and data silos (32%), and lack of tools for developing AI models (28%) are the top three barriers to AI adoption

"As organizations move to a post-pandemic world, data from the Global AI Adoption Index 2021 underscores a major uptick in AI investment. We believe these investments will continue to accelerate rapidly as customers look for new, innovative ways to drive their digital transformations by taking advantage of hybrid cloud and AI," said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Cloud and Data Platform.

Here are the key insights from the Global AI Adoption Index 2021:

• While AI adoption was nearly flat over the last year, significant investments in AI are planned with one-third of global IT professionals reporting that their company plans to invest in both skills and AI solutions over the next 12 months.
• 80 percent of companies are already using automation software or plan to use this technology in the next 12 months. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced more than one in three organizations' decision to use automation to bolster the productivity of employees.
• A majority of survey respondents believe that trustworthy and explainable AI is critical to its widespread adoption as well as to the success of their businesses.
• The ability to access data anywhere is the key to the adoption of AI.
• Almost half of the respondents report that their company is currently using natural language processing (NLP) and one-quarter plan to use it over the next 12 months. While cost is the greatest barrier to adopting NLP technologies in the US, Latin America and Europe, complexities and lack of customization are barriers in China. In India, training requirements are the greatest barrier to NLP adoption.