Survey reveals over 50% of senior AI professionals achieve significant ROI on AI initiatives

Dataiku, a platform for Everyday AI, partnered with Databricks, a prominent data and AI company, to release survey findings that highlight the transformative impact of AI on global businesses. The survey, conducted in early June 2023, gathered insights from over 400 senior AI professionals across various industries, shedding light on AI adoption and perceptions.

The results showed that more than 70% of senior AI professionals have witnessed a positive return on investment for their spending on data science, analytics, and AI initiatives. Among them, 54% reported at least a 2x return, while an impressive 5% experienced returns greater than 10x. This indicates that AI, including Generative AI, is now demonstrating substantial business outcomes, keeping pace with its rapid adoption.

The survey further revealed that AI has proven its value within organizations:

– 60% of respondents emphasized the necessity of AI for unlocking the full potential of data.

– The primary obstacles to widespread AI adoption were operational in nature. The leaders in AI identified issues like data quality and deployment speed as the main barriers to extracting more value from AI, rather than concerns about cost or a lack of business cases.

– A note of caution emerged among AI leaders, with 55% expressing justified fears about AI’s future and expressing more worry than excitement. In light of this, an equal percentage (55%) called for official regulations to govern AI.

The survey unveiled significant investments in AI resources by businesses, with almost half (47%) of respondents reporting AI tool budgets exceeding $5 million for the upcoming year, and 17% expecting budgets exceeding $20 million. Moreover, nearly two-thirds (64%) have plans to utilize Generative AI or Large Language Models (LLMs) in the next year, with 45% already experimenting with these technologies.

Jepson Taylor, Chief AI Strategist at Dataiku, expressed that AI and data science are living up to high expectations and market attention, delivering bottom-line results that would impress any CFO. However, the need for the right AI tools and platforms remains critical to efficiently converting vast amounts of data into actionable insights while mitigating potential risks.

Prem Prakash, Head of AI Marketing at Databricks, acknowledged the significant interest in generative AI while highlighting the associated challenges, including data access, privacy, and regulatory concerns. Their shared mission with Dataiku aims to democratize data and AI, enabling organizations to build generative AI solutions securely and cost-effectively.

The survey also compared AI Pioneers, those who have successfully implemented AI and witnessed substantial returns, with AI Laggards, who are still exploring or experimenting with AI and experiencing lower returns. The comparison revealed clear differences between the groups:

– AI Pioneers were 62% more likely to have at least one data leader in their C-suite (70% of Pioneers compared to 43% of Laggards).

– AI Laggards were 43% more likely to lack clear owners responsible for data quality (39% of Pioneers compared to 56% of Laggards).

– AI Laggards were 37% more likely to lack trusted and easily accessible data for frontline workers (48% of Pioneers compared to 66% of Laggards).

These insights demonstrate the significance of AI maturity in distinguishing successful AI implementations from those still exploring its potential.