Only 12% companies using Artificial Intelligence are at an ‘AI maturity’ level: Study

Organisations across verticals are depending and investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI), to enhance customer service, for business and sales forecasting, for better surveillance, to increase overall productivity and a lot more.

However, according to a study by Accenture, in 2021, among executives of the world’s 2,000 largest companies (by market capitalisation), those who discussed AI on their earnings calls were 40% more likely to see their firms' share prices increase - up from 23% in 2018, still only 12% are using it at an AI maturity level that achieves a strong competitive advantage.

The study points out that most of the organisations that use AI are still experimenting with the technology. “When it comes to making the most of AI’s full potential and their own investments, most organisations are barely scratching the surface,“ it said.

The study notes that AI maturity is the degree to which organisations outperform their peers in a combination of AI-related foundational and differentiating capabilities. These capabilities include the technology – data, AI, cloud – as well as organizational strategy, Responsible AI, C-suite sponsorship, talent and culture.

“AI adoption rapidly matured during the pandemic, yet to create more value with AI and use it to reinvent the enterprise, companies require a clear leadership vision combined with effective change management and human capital reinvention,” said Piyush N. Singh, India Business Lead at Accenture.

Prithvijit Roy, Managing Director – Applied Intelligence, Accenture in India said that to successfully scale the use of AI, they (organisations) need to industrialise AI tools and teams and also nurture a culture of responsible AI design. But most importantly, they must invest in talent.

The research dubs the 12% of organisations that already use AI to outpace their competitors as ‘AI Achievers’, with a score of 64 on the maturity scale, almost doubling that of others and correlating with 50% higher revenue growth than their peers.

The analysis further shows that most companies (63%) are ‘AI Experimenters’, barely scratching the surface of AI’s potential with an AI maturity score of 29. AI Innovators (13%), scoring 50, and AI Builders (12%), at 44, are somewhat advanced in their level of AI maturity, but are still leaving the full value of AI untapped.