AI is the talk of the town, but businesses are still not ready for it, survey shows

Generative AI adoption rate for businesses is yet to match the hype around the technology, with data privacy, regulation, and IT infrastructure acting as major barriers to its widespread use, according to a recent survey.

The global survey of more than 300 business leaders by MIT Technology Review Insights and Australia-based telecoms company Telstra revealed only 9% of them were significantly using AI.

While most leaders were optimistic about AI's potential and expected to widen its usage, currently even the early adopters of this technology have deployed it for limited business areas. 

"There is a misconception about how easy it is to run mature, enterprise-ready, generative AI," said Stela Solar, Inaugural Director at Australia's National Artificial Intelligence Centre in the survey report.

Its adoption may require companies to "improve data quality and capability, privacy measures, AI skilling, and implement organization-wide safe and responsible AI governance," she added 

 "There are surrounding elements like the app design, connection to data and business processes, corporate policies, and more that are still needed."

Most business leaders said they expect the number of business functions or general purposes for which generative AI will be deployed to more than double by 2024. 

Early adopters in 2023 had mostly deployed the technology for automating repetitive, low-value tasks due to them requiring less human supervision, said Chris Levanes, head of South Asia marketing at Telstra.

As many as 85% of the respondents expect to use generative AI for these low-value tasks by 2024, with 77% expecting to implement it in customer service and 74% for strategic analysis. 

Product innovation, supply chain logistics, and sales were