Back in June, a report[1] from LinkedIn noted that the Covid crisis had cooled off demand for artificial intelligence skills. However, four months later, companies are still struggling with finding AI skills.
Overall, more than four out of 10 enterprises now use artificial intelligence in a serious way, up one-third in just two years, a recent survey[2] of 1,000 executives by RELX finds. Adoption accelerated in a big way over the past few months. AI technologies are being employed at 81% of businesses -- up from 48% in a similar survey conducted in 2018.
At the same time, AI talent is in short supply. The leading reasons for companies not using AI are budget constraints (44%) and lack of technical expertise (39%).
Advanced AI adopters are seeing the most acute shortages of talent, cited by 23% in a recent Deloitte survey[3]. It is possible that the more a company works with AI, the more likely they are to understand what skills they actually need, says David Jarvis, a researcher with Deloitte. "It could also be that the 'seasoned' tend to pursue more transformational projects using AI, focusing more on creating new products and services than on cost reduction," he adds.
Companies were under the gun to quickly ramp up AI efforts as they shifted into crisis mode over the last seven months, the RELX survey shows. The majority of respondents (68%) increased their investment in AI technologies during the Covid crisis, with 48% investing in new AI technologies and 46% investing further in AI technologies already in use at their companies. Similarly, 63% of business leaders polled report that AI technologies had a positive impact on their business's ability to stay resilient during this time.
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