AI Transitioning from Ideation to Industrialization for Critical Business Operations, According to New Rackspace Technology FAIR 2024 AI Research - Seite 2

Investment in AI Continues to Rise
The survey findings reveal a continued surge in AI investment, with companies anticipating doubling their budgets in 2024 as compared to 2023. Moreover, respondents say their investments are yielding significant returns, with 86% reporting that their companies have seen tangible benefits from the implementation of AI – a notable increase of 10% over Rackspace’s 2023 survey.

Among the leading use cases for AI/Machine Learning (ML) initiatives, respondents highlighted efficiency as the primary motivation and advantage, with intelligent search (62%), document processing (61%), and fraud detection (56%) emerging as the leading cases.

When asked about the driving force behind their company's AI strategy, 57% of respondents cited their IT departments as taking the lead. However, IT teams are also receiving support from various other departments across their organizations. Specifically, 46% of respondents mentioned that customer service played a role as an early adopter in driving their AI strategies, while 44% reported involvement from functional departments such as marketing, sales, and finance. In addition, approximately half of all respondents also say they are achieving their goals in executive sponsorship of AI initiatives, business unit alignment, strategic alignment, and product management.

“The doubling down on AI investment over the past year is akin to progress at the speed of light,” said Nirmal Ranganathan, Vice President of Engineering and Chief AI Architect, Rackspace Technology. “But it’s not merely the magnitude of investment that is worth noting. The widespread adoption of AI across various parts of businesses indicates that organizations recognize it as a profoundly impactful technology with transformative capabilities.”

Security & Ethics Remain a Concern
Despite the widespread and rapid adoption, organizations remain cautious of AI-associated risks, including ethical and security concerns associated with the technology. Fifty-eight percent of respondents ranked cybersecurity as the biggest risk their organization sees in AI adoption, while just 51% of respondents report that they follow proper data management and retention policies to manage compliance.

Alongside security, ethics emerge as a key concern, with over half of respondents considering the responsible and ethical use of AI as being a part of their approach for AI governance. The key considerations for what respondents considered to be ‘Responsible AI’ were data privacy (55%), accountability (52%) and transparency (48%).