There are few topics in PR and communications that have generated more buzz than AI; of course, there’s plenty of hype and false claims, too. Deloitte decided to try to separate the steak from the sizzle by gauging the attitudes of 250 members of what it called “cognitive-aware” leaders. These executive are mostly C-suiters from companies of at least 500 employees that are early adopters of AI and cognitive technologies such as machine learning, deep learning neural networks, natural language processing, rule engines and robotic process automation.
Deloitte learned the leaders are bullish on AI and expect it has or will transform their companies and industries quickly (see chart left column). And there are hurdles (see bottom chart). In terms of machines replacing humans, that’s not happened much, the survey says, and responders aren’t sure it will in the next few years.
As we said, the first table shows 76% feel AI/cognitive technologies will “substantially” transform their companies fast.
The table (second, right column) shows the vast majority of companies are using AI to speed up large tasks and statistical machine learning, which can augment the speed and scale of analytical models. It’s believed AI will be most helpful to PR pros in these areas.
Enhancing products and services was the top priority for the survey responders (see top table, right column).
In terms of where AI investments were made the leader (64%) was IT work, then product development/ R&D (44%), and customer service (40%). And 83% said their companies already achieved either moderate (53%) or substantial (30%) benefits from AI. Just 9% say AI is over-hyped.
