Most companies not well-prepared for implementing artificial intelligence

About 4% of CIOs (chief information officers) have implemented AI, while 46 per cent have developed plans to do so

Meaningful artificial intelligence (AI) deployments are just beginning to take place, according to Gartner’s 2018 CIO Agenda Survey. About four per cent of CIOs (chief information officers) have implemented AI, while 46 per cent have developed plans to do so. Most organisations aren’t well-prepared for implementing AI. They lack internal skills in data science and plan to rely to a high degree on external providers to fill the gap. Fifty-three percent of organiSations in the CIO survey rated their own ability to mine and exploit data as ‘limited’ — the lowest level. Gartner predicts that through 2022, 85 per cent of AI projects will deliver erroneous outcomes due to bias in data, algorithms or the teams responsible for managing them. “Despite huge levels of interest in AI technologies, current implementations remain at quite low levels,” says Whit Andrews, research vice-president at Gartner. “However, there is potential for strong growth as CIOs begin piloting AI programs through a combination of buy, build and outsource efforts.”

Employability quotient

The overall employability amongst the fresh talent has increased significantly in the past five years, from 33 per cent in 2014 to 45.6 per cent in 2018, according to India Skills Report 2018 published by PeopleStrong and Wheebox in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry. The results of the report are based on the employability test and assessment conducted across 5200 universities and professional institutions in India covering more than 500,000 students. Close to 80 per cent of candidates assessed are keen to explore internship opportunities, as they believe that internship will make them more employable. About 85 per cent of the candidates feel that they are not fully equipped or trained to take a conscious and well thought-out career decision.