Weighing up the opportunities and risks of using AIs

London/Canberra (Australia) | A competent use of AI in a company is increasingly becoming a decisive factor for business success and increasing competitiveness. Numerous studies have suggested this in the meantime. For example, Capgemini Consulting 2017 in its analysis “Turning AI into concrete value: the successful implementer’s toolkit” found that 3 out of 4 companies using AI were able to increase their sales of new products and services by more than 10%. In this survey, 993 companies from 9 countries with an annual turnover of more than 500 million US dollars were surveyed. Against this background, it is worth taking a detailed look at the existing risks and opportunities of AI deployment, which also arise with regard to in-company training.

The upheavals in in-company training, which go hand in hand with the use of AI, are the subject of the recently published survey “AI Study 2019: How do companies use artificial intelligence? According to the study, 68% of the 1,900 managers surveyed worldwide in 7 different countries believe that the use of AI creates a moderate to extreme skills gap in the workforce that needs to be addressed through in-company training. After all, companies are faced with the problem of a lack of professionals who can understand, develop and implement AI technology. In Australia, the value for the perceived qualification gap of 72% is once again significantly higher than in almost all comparable countries of the study, which consist of Germany, Canada, Great Britain, China, France and the United States of America.

In general, the Australians, Deloitte says, are the most critical of the CI, which is due, among other things, to a largely lacking corresponding strategy and financing of the government. For example, only 29.9 million Australian dollars are planned in the 2018/2019 budget to advance AI technology and develop ethical standards for use, while at the same time the city of Beijing alone is spending 2.1 billion US dollars and Tianjin 16 billion dollars on this.

The globally articulated concerns about AI include, among others, the handling of sensitive data, but also a perceived loss of empathy in AI-driven decisions, reports the Deloitte survey. But also, the concern that the AI contains a faulty code, which in turn makes it vulnerable to hacker attacks and could ultimately harm the company. According to the management consultancy Deloitte, the opportunities offered by AI applications, on the other hand, could be exploited above all if the strategic business focuses already existing in the company were also considered in the development of AI applications. It was also to be expected that the current comparatively high requirements for the use of AI would be reduced and that it would be easier for companies to get off the ground in a few years’ time. It is important to develop a structure for one’s own company that deals with roles and functions regarding AI and its relation to human resources. For example, the necessity of using AI trainers to help develop the AI or AI translators to mediate between employees and AI. All these are necessary in the future workplace, but also require a clear structural location of their activities in the company for their efficient use. Once this has been achieved, much has been done to ensure that AI applications actually contribute to sales growth.

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