Artificial Intelligence (AI)

For many years, science has been unsuccessfully attempting to artificially recreate the complex human mind.

But how intelligent is artificial intelligence really? Research has been dealing with this question for decades. The goal is to create a "thinking" machine. To this day, however, this has not yet been achieved, because human thinking itself has not yet been fully explored and understood. Therefore, AI research overlaps with neurology and/or psychology.

In the meantime, research is increasingly focusing on sub-areas with the aim of facilitating work processes. To this end, scientists from a wide range of disciplines (cognitive science, psychology, neurology, philosophy and linguistics) have to communicate with each other. 

Artificial intelligence for the optimisation of production processes

From the point of view of production, it is interesting to see whether artificial intelligence can save energy or whether artificial intelligence can support people in production.

The companies are optimistic and assume that their investment in artificial intelligence will pay off in the long term. For example, 80 per cent of the companies are already investing in artificial intelligence. This was revealed by a survey of 260 IT and business decision-makers, which was conducted by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Teradata.

59 per cent of the respondents expect the biggest impact in the IT, technology and telecommunications sector, followed by services and consulting in a business-to-business environment (43 per cent) as well as B2C and financial services (each 32 per cent). European companies consider the manufacturing industry to be in third place.

According to the survey, companies are optimistic and expect a 99 per cent ROI for each euro invested today over the next five years. In the next ten years, a ROI of 187 per cent is even expected to be achieved.

The survey also shows that companies expect sales increases (53 per cent) and cost savings from efficiency improvements (47 per cent) in roughly equal parts. However, 72 per cent of those surveyed do not believe that there is enough trained staff in the company to introduce and develop AI.

Artificial intelligence scares the Germans

Many people are unsettled by adaptive robots or IT systems and fear, amongst other things, the loss of their jobs. 41 per cent of Germans feel threatened by intelligent technology. In Great Britain and the USA, the figures are almost identical. This was the result of a survey conducted by the digital communications agency Syzygy AG. To this end, 2000 people in Germany, Great Britain and the USA were asked about their attitudes towards artificial intelligence.

In all three countries, the younger people born between 1981 and the turn of the millennium are particularly concerned about the future of humanity.

Despite all the uncertainties, Germans also see opportunities and advantages in intelligent technology. Half of the respondents hope that using artificial intelligence will make life easier over the next five years.

"German consumers are perfectly willing to allow AI to play a growing role in their lives," says Lars Lehne, CEO of Syzygy AG. "At the same time, they want clear guidelines to regulate and control technology."

Many companies rely on complex application cases for artificial intelligence and thereby pass up opportunities - New study by Capgemini

Three quarters of the companies increased their sales by ten per cent, which they attribute directly to the introduction of AI. These are the key findings of Capgemini's study "Turning AI into concrete value: the successful implementers' toolkit", for which nearly 1,000 companies with a turnover of more than 500 million US dollars were surveyed. All participating organisations use AI either within the framework of a pilot project or on a larger scale.

More jobs for higher qualified employees

The study shows that four out of five companies (83 per cent) have created new jobs using artificial intelligence technologies. These are primarily jobs for experienced employees; two out of every three positions are created in the management environment. In addition, more than 63 per cent of companies implementing AI on a large scale stated that AI did not cut jobs. "We want to use our employees according to their skills," says Michael Natusch, Global Head AI at Prudential. "AI saves the time that people have spent on repetitive tasks to date, and it allows them to concentrate on those tasks where human intelligence creates added value - for themselves and for the customers.” Accordingly, the majority of the organisations surveyed (71 per cent) actively provide their employees with retraining and continuing education. The vast majority of respondents who use AI on a large scale believe that AI will simplify complex tasks (89 per cent) and also that intelligent machines and people will exist side by side in their companies (88 per cent).

Missed opportunities: AI is still thought to be too complex in many places

Nevertheless, many companies still have to align their AI investments with their business opportunities - according to the study. Under the leadership of the technologists, many companies prioritise demanding AI projects and overlook obvious benefits. More than half (58 per cent) concentrate on very complex projects with high benefit (also called need-to-do applications) such as customer service or autonomous driving. In contrast, only 46 per cent of them implement so-called "must-do-AI applications" with high potential benefits and low complexity. Examples of this, amongst others, are error detection and performance management, compliance with legal requirements or the use of chatbots and virtual assistants. Companies can also use AI solutions to autonomously classify emails in customer service, for example, and thus gain time for more value-added activities. If companies were to tackle both at the same time, they would have significantly higher business benefits. For example, companies that implement many must-do applications reduce their waste rates by up to 26 per cent on average.

AI users have an eye on the customer experience

Technically-minded companies use AI for the following reasons: They increase their sales and operational efficiency, simplify interaction with customers and gain insights into their business. The fact that three quarters of all companies have already been able to increase their sales figures by ten per cent since they have started using AI proves that this works. The customer experience is a focus of AI users: 73 per cent assume that AI can increase customer satisfaction and 65 per cent believe that it can reduce the future migration of customers.

Germany tops the list for productive use of AI

A comparison by country shows that German organisations are amongst the world's leaders in the productive application of artificial intelligence: More than 40 per cent of the German companies surveyed use AI on a large scale. This puts Germany behind India, Australia and Italy, but ahead of the USA, the Netherlands and France. If one asks German study participants for the greatest benefit they derive from the application of AI, higher productivity is given first priority. This was followed by a ten per cent increase in sales of new products and services and higher customer satisfaction. In addition, organisations in Germany are also improving their operative business processes through AI.