Algorithmia’s 2021 Enterprise Trends in Machine Learning report features the views of 403 business leaders involved with machine learning initiatives.

Diego Oppenheimer, CEO of Algorithmia, says:

“COVID-19 has caused rapid change which has challenged our assumptions in many areas. In this rapidly changing environment, organisations are rethinking their investments and seeing the importance of AI/ML to drive revenue and efficiency during uncertain times.

Before the pandemic, the top concern for organisations pursuing AI/ML initiatives was a lack of skilled in-house talent. Today, organisations are worrying more about how to get ML models into production faster and how to ensure their performance over time.

While we don’t want to marginalise these issues, I am encouraged by the fact that the type of challenges have more to do with how to maximise the value of AI/ML investments as opposed to whether or not a company can pursue them at all.”

The main takeaway is that AI budgets are significantly increasing. 83 percent of respondents said they’ve increased their budgets compared to last year.

Despite a difficult year for many companies, business leaders are not being put off of AI investments—in fact, they’re doubling-down.

In Algorithmia’s summer survey, 50 percent of respondents said they plan to spend more on AI this year. Around one in five even said they “plan to spend a lot more.”

76 percent of businesses report they are now prioritising AI/ML over other IT initiatives. 64 percent say the priority of AI/ML has increased relative to other IT initiatives over the last 12 months.

With unemployment figures around the world at their highest for several years – even decades in some cases – it’s at least heartening to hear that 76 percent of respondents said they’ve not reduced the size of their AI/ML teams. 27 percent even report an increase.

43 percent say their AI/ML initiatives “matter way more than we thought” and close to one in four believe their AI/ML initiatives should have been their top priority sooner. Process automation and improving customer experiences are the two main areas for AI investments.

While it’s been all good news so far, there are AI deployment issues being faced by many companies which are yet to be addressed.

Governance is, by far, the biggest AI challenge being faced by companies. 56 percent of the businesses ranked governance, security, and auditability issues as a concern.

Regulatory compliance is vital but can be confusing, especially with different regulations between not just countries but even states. 67 percent of the organisations report having to comply with multiple regulations for their AI/ML deployments.

The next major challenge after governance is with basic deployment and organisational challenges. 

Basic integration issues were ranked by 49 percent of businesses as a problem. Furthermore, more job roles are being involved with AI deployment strategies than ever before—it’s no longer seen as just the domain of data scientists.

However, there’s perhaps some light at the end of the tunnel. Organisations are reporting improved outcomes when using dedicated, third-party MLOps solutions.

While keeping in mind Algorithmia is a third-party MLOps solution, the report claims organisations using such a platform spend an average of around 21 percent less on infrastructure costs. Furthermore, it also helps to free up their data scientists—who spend less time on model deployment.

You can find a full copy of Algorithmia’s report here (requires signup)

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Put in such a context, the research offers little comfort for businesses considering AI investments. On the other hand, it means half of AI projects are successful for three out of four companies; a far more incentivising statistic.

The two leading reasons for an AI project failing are:

1. A lack of required skills.
2. Unrealistic expectations.

IDC’s research found that just 25 percent of the businesses using AI have deployed an ‘enterprise-wide’ strategy.

The researchers surveyed 2,473 organisations that are using AI for their study. Half of the firms see AI as a priority, while two-thirds are establishing an ‘AI-first’ culture.

Ritu Jyoti, Program VP of Artificial Intelligence Strategies at IDC, said:

“Organisations that embrace AI will drive better customer engagements and have accelerated rates of innovation, higher competitiveness, higher margins, and productive employees.

Organisations worldwide must evaluate their vision and transform their people, processes, technology, and data readiness to unleash the power of AI and thrive in the digital era.”

More than 60 percent of the businesses report changing their business model in response to adopting AI technologies. IT operations is the main area where AI is being adopted followed by customer service and fraud/risk management.

“For many organisations, the rapid rise of digital transformation has pushed AI to the top of the corporate agenda. However, as AI accelerates toward the mainstream, organisations will need to have an effective AI strategy aligned with business goals and innovative business models to thrive in the digital era,” noted Jyoti.

You can find a full copy of IDC’s report here (paywall).

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At its core, AI has a huge amount of potential to improve the way people work: think automating cumbersome processes, or helping employees be more efficient by balancing workloads and suggesting best-fit schedules. In effect, if it is leveraged in the right way, it can be instrumental in improving both an organisation’s bottom line and engagement of its workers.

Though there is some scepticism around AI in the workplace, I think it’s all in how you view it – can humans and machines coexist? Let’s take a look.

AI on the rise

AI has come a long way since its early days, when it was relegated largely to academic circles or the realm of science fiction. It’s now very much at the forefront, being used to make shift and holiday scheduling much less of a headache for employees, as a tool to transform marketing and customer service by analysing initial requests to match with the best human employee to carry out the task, and even as a pioneering technology in the world of data analytics to dive deep into data lakes much too cumbersome for a human, and bringing patterns and insights to the forefront.

These roles that AI is assuming alongside employees is being met with mixed reviews. According to a survey carried out by the Workforce Institute at Kronos, 92 percent of U.K. employees recognise that AI can make their lives easier by helping them improve the way they work. Alongside this, 68 percent said that they would be in favour of embracing AI if it helped them to better balance their workloads or increase fairness in subjective decisions.

So far, so good. But employees have concerns too.

Progress to be made

Digging a little deeper, 62 percent of respondents say that their employer has not yet shared details of plans to introduce AI with them. This lack of transparency can understandably lead to some workers fearing that their jobs are set to be replaced by so-called ‘better alternatives’.

However, there’s no need for this to be the case. There is a clear opportunity for leaders to be more transparent and communicative with their employees about the applications of AI and, specifically, how it can be hugely influential in making their lives easier and freeing up their time to focus on creativity and innovation. This point is again highlighted by the research: 63 percent of respondents said that they would be more comfortable with the introduction of AI if their employer were more open about how it will affect their roles.

A HR challenge, not just a technology one

Employees generally recognise that there’s potential in AI, but tackling any remaining suspicions is about focusing on the HR aspect of AI implementation, as well as the technological permutations. An organisation is only as strong as its people, so their well-being should be a close consideration whenever any change to the business is introduced.

This means that managers and leadership teams need to be as transparent as possible about how the technology will work, how they will work with the technology, and place special emphasis on its virtues and underlining how each person’s role will or will not change.

People innovate, technology facilitates

In any industry, it will always be people who contribute the innovative thought that will drive an organisation forward – with technology then being a tool through which this innovation will be facilitated. AI is no different in this respect: it will play a pivotal role in the workplace of the future, but its potential can only be maximised when it is used in tandem with the creative flair that human staff provide.

If managers and business leaders can communicate this message to their employees effectively, AI will be welcomed with open arms and its promise will be fulfilled.

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Last week, AI News reported on a Microsoft study which highlighted that high-growth companies are over twice as likely to be using AI. 41 percent of high-growth companies are using AI compared to just 19 percent of low-growth.

This divide needs to change or small businesses risk falling even further behind. However, overall, less than two in 10 of even high-growth companies are integrating AI which presents a huge opportunity.

Microsoft is launching AI Business School which provides lectures, case studies, guides, talks, and resources from industry leaders as well as Microsoft’s own executives. The course is designed to be for people with a business background so it’s non-technical.

“There is a gap between what people want to do and the reality of what is going on in their organisations today, and the reality of whether their organisation is ready,” said Mitra Azizirad, corporate vice president for AI marketing at Microsoft.

“Developing a strategy for AI extends beyond the business issues,” she explained. “It goes all the way to the leadership, behaviours and capabilities required to instill an AI-ready culture in your organisation.”

The new ‘Business School’ is an extension of Microsoft’s existing ‘AI School’ which is a more technical course.

You can find out more about the AI Business School here.

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One standout result of the study is that German, British, Russian, Dutch, Swiss, and Italian business leaders are – on the whole – reporting they’re “actively implementing” AI ahead of the US.

In fact, of business leaders from the countries surveyed, only France was behind the US.

The survey did not include all countries and is missing several notable countries including the likes of Japan, Canada, and Australia. Of course, the biggest omission is China.

China and the US are leaders in AI development but Microsoft’s study indicates that isn’t translating into adoption by American businesses.

Another interesting highlight in Microsoft’s study is the disparity in adoption between high and low growth companies.

High-growth companies, defined as having double-digit growth, are over twice as likely to be using AI. 41 percent of high-growth companies are using AI compared to just 19 percent of low-growth.

This disparity is most prominent in Germany where 67 percent of high-growth companies are using AI compared to just 17 percent of low-growth.

Susan Etlinger, Industry Analyst with the Altimeter Group, said:

“What’s striking about the research is the difference between double-digit growth companies and those with lower growth.

Double-digit growth companies are further along in their AI deployments, but also see a greater urgency in using more AI. They are looking at a one to three year timeframe – often really focused on the coming year. Lower growth companies are looking at more of a 5-year timeframe. What this says to me is that the more you know, the higher your sense of urgency is.”

Most of the businesses are either in the ‘exploring’ or ‘experimenting’ stages on their AI journey. The competitive advantages to using AI are clear, but it’s worth starting small and scaling up deployments over time.

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