That innovative companies increasingly rely on innovative technologies seems hardly surprising. The results of a survey of 172 German tech startups commissioned by Bitkom confirm: 76 percent now use AI. A year ago, it was only 49 percent. For comparison: across the economy, only 13 percent of companies currently use this technology. Generative AI is also widespread among startups, with as many as 63 percent deploying it in their startup.
“Artificial intelligence is not a hype, it is probably the most important key technology of the future. While Germany has been at the forefront of AI research for decades, commercial applications are now coming predominantly from abroad. Startups are among Germany’s pioneers and drivers of AI,”
says Bitkom president Ralf Wintergerst and adds:
“I strongly recommend SMEs and large enterprises to seek proximity to AI startups or to enter into cooperations.”
For eight out of ten startups, AI is the most important future technology bar none, with only 17 percent considering it an overrated hype. 39 percent believe that startups that do not use artificial intelligence have no future. AI also offers concrete advantages to startups. 76 percent of those startups that have integrated AI into their products or services found it easier to secure funding. And 38 percent could not offer their product or service at all without AI, or only in a very limited way.
AI regulation as a competitive disadvantage?
56 percent of startups see excessive regulation as the reason why products like ChatGPT do not come from the EU. In May, the EU introduced the AI Act, which is intended to create uniform AI regulation in Europe. One-third of respondents see the AI Act as creating a competitive disadvantage for their own startup compared to American or Chinese companies. And a quarter believe that the AI Act will limit their startup in the use or development of AI.
According to the survey, the biggest obstacles to AI deployment in their own startup are lack of financial and personnel resources (23 percent each) and data protection requirements or legal permissibility of data use (22 percent). These are followed by lack of time in day-to-day operations (19 percent) and lack of data to deploy AI effectively (17 percent). Ten percent worry that company data could fall into the wrong hands through artificial intelligence. Nine percent are unsettled by legal hurdles and uncertainties in general. The same proportion of startups lack the technical know-how to implement AI. 33 percent of startups see no obstacles to AI deployment.
