Nearly 59% of large firms have deployed AI in business: IBM report

Nearly 59 per cent of large organisations (those with over 1,000 employees) surveyed in India are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) actively in their businesses, according to a new research commissioned by IBM.

The 'IBM Global AI Adoption Index 2023' found early adopters are leading the way, with 74 per cent of those Indian enterprises already working with AI, having accelerated such investments in the past 24 months in areas like R&D and workforce reskilling.

Ongoing challenges for AI adoption include hiring employees with the right skill sets and ethical concerns, inhibiting businesses from adopting AI technologies into their operations.

For 2024, addressing these inhibitors would be a priority like providing people with the relevant skills to work with AI and having a robust AI governance framework, according to the report.

"The increase in AI adoption and investments by Indian enterprises is a good indicator that they are already experiencing the benefits of AI. However, there is still a significant opportunity to accelerate as many businesses are hesitant to move beyond experimentation and deploy AI at scale," Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India and South Asia, said.

To harness its full potential in the coming months, data and AI governance tools are going to be critical for building AI models responsibly that enterprises can trust and confidently adopt.

"Without the use of governance tools, AI can expose companies to data privacy issues, legal complications, and ethical dilemmas cases of which we have already seen plaguing many across the world," he added.

"Today, 59 per cent of IT professionals at large organisations report that they have actively deployed AI while an additional 27 per cent are actively exploring using the technology," the report said, adding that the levels in India were highest among countries surveyed.

The findings are part of a global survey conducted among a representative sample of 8,584 IT Professionals in India, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, UAE, UK, US and LATAM (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru).