When it comes to artificial intelligence, one often hears that the German economy is not sufficiently prepared for the new technology. However, a recent study shows the opposite: German companies are well aware of the importance of artificial intelligence for their future success, but also fear negative consequences.
German companies view the use of artificial intelligence as crucial to their success, according to a survey by Deloitte. The management consultancy surveyed AI experts at 2,700 companies from nine countries about their use of artificial intelligence. 79 percent of the 200 German respondents stated that artificial intelligence is already a key factor for sustainable business success. 70 percent expect that artificial intelligence will transform their own company and the associated industry.
“Artificial intelligence is becoming ‘business as usual’ for many companies”
The companies surveyed often lack the necessary expertise themselves: 55 percent of respondents state that they primarily outsource AI. Only 8 percent of companies develop it entirely in-house. Deloitte refers to this as a "global trend toward 'AI as a service'." One reason for this is the shortage of skilled workers in the AI field. For 27 percent of the experts surveyed, the difficulty of finding sufficiently qualified specialists is a major challenge. Milan Sallaba, Partner and Head of the Technology Sector at Deloitte, says that the demand for AI specialists remains high in Germany:
"A closer look at the job profiles in demand shows that data scientists, AI researchers, and experienced project managers are still in demand just as urgently as last year. Only in the area of change management has demand declined by a quite significant seven percentage points. This development is also an indication that artificial intelligence is now becoming 'business as usual' for many companies."
Germans fear job losses
Projects that utilize artificial intelligence pay for themselves relatively quickly. According to respondents, most AI projects pay for themselves in less than two years. German companies with existing AI competencies even expect such projects to pay for themselves in less than one year.
In all eight countries except Germany, security concerns are seen as the greatest risk associated with the use of artificial intelligence. Almost one in four respondents fears security risks. The situation is different for German respondents: Here, a lack of transparency (23 percent) and job losses (22 percent) rank top.
