Corona and AI. Why companies should invest in AI now.

It is no secret that the use of artificial intelligence in companies offers enormous economic potential.

In 2017, PWC has identified a value of almost US$16 trillion in additional growth worldwide by 2030 through the use of artificial intelligence [1].

Some companies are already benefiting from this today. Seven of the 10 most valuable companies use artificial intelligence as a key component of their strategy [2]. Companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook or Alibaba.

It is astonishing and also a bit frightening that, according to a study by the German Federal Ministry of Economics, just under 6% of companies in Germany actively use artificial intelligence applications [3]. Even in sectors with the highest usage, such as Information and Communication Technology, the figure is only 18%. A survey by the IT association Bitcom [4] has just shown that in seven out of ten management boards in Germany the use of AI technology is neither planned nor discussed.

What does this have to do with Corona?

On the one hand, the importance of digitization and artificial intelligence is becoming very apparent these days. Companies that have been pushing these topics are at an advantage. At the same time, there is a tendency to postpone investments in future-oriented topics due to the critical financial situation caused by the Corona crisis in many companies . Of course this also applies to artificial intelligence investments. And that’s a problem. Because those who actively use artificial intelligence today will benefit even more from it in the future. Why?
Thanks to Corona and the increased use of video conferences and digital media, for example, much more digital data is being produced today than last year. Data is the basis for artificial intelligence applications and promotes the possibilities of companies that are already very active in using AI. It can be assumed that companies such as Amazon will benefit massively from the fact that many more people are now active online through Corona. Amazon benefits not only from the increasing turnover of online trade in the Corona crisis. Amazon benefits in particular from the additional data that can be used to training their AI applications.

In other words, companies that are not actively using AI today will fall behind even faster tomorrow.

Well-known AI expert Kai-Fu Lee expects a significant increase in the use of AI through Corona, as he explained in an interview with Bloomberg [5]. According to his estimate, two months of the Corona crisis have realized the digitalization and the data of two years before Corona. And this is only the beginning.

What’s the consequence? Especially now it is important to invest in the future topic of artificial intelligence. In the knowledge and understanding of the opportunities that AI offers to businesses. In the implementation of first projects. In the active use of AI in existing processes. And in new AI based products and services.

Links:

[1] https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/analytics/assets/pwc-ai-analysis-sizing-the-prize-report.pdf
[2] https://fxssi.com/top-10-most-valuable-companies-in-the-world
[3] https://www.bmwi.de/Redaktion/DE/Publikationen/Wirtschaft/einsatz-von-ki-deutsche-wirtschaft.pdf
[4] https://www.handelsblatt.com/technik/it-internet/bitkom-umfrage-investitionen-deutscher-unternehmen-in-kuenstliche-intelligenz-sind-ernuechternd
[5] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-04-28/new-economy-conversations-on-the-front-lines-with-kai-fu-lee-video

This blog post was first published on ai.hamburg in German.