Pandemic provides boost to AI and ML adoption
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Companies are planning to increase their spending on AI/ML as a result of the pandemic, and many have realized that those initiatives should have been a higher priority for their organizations all along.
A new survey of enterprise IT leaders from Algorithmia, a provider of ML operations and management solutions, shows that 91 percent of respondents were spending at least $1,000,000 annually on AI/ML prior to the pandemic, and 50 percent say they are planning to spend more than that going forward.
While 65 percent of survey respondents say that AI/ML projects were at or near the top of their priority list before the pandemic, 33 percent say these applications are now higher on their list. In addition 43 percent of IT leaders surveyed by Algorithmia say that AI/ML matters much more than they thought as a result of the pandemic, and 23 percent say they realize now that AI/ML should have been their highest priority IT initiatives all along.
The focus of projects has seen a shift though, 54 percent of IT leaders say their AI/ML projects were focused on financial analysis and consumer insight prior to the pandemic. On the other side these same people say their projects will be focused on cost optimization (59 percent) and customer experience (58 percent). This suggests that while IT might lock-in on cost-cutting when times are tough, over the long-term they will prioritize the adoption of new technologies that enhance and enable automation.
"When we come through the pandemic, the companies that will emerge the strongest will be those that invested in tools, people and processes that enable them to scale delivery of AI and ML-based applications to production," says Diego Oppenheimer, CEO of Algorithmia. "These past several months have been difficult for most companies, but we believe investments in AI/ML operations now will pay off for companies sooner than later. Despite the fact that we’re still dealing with the pandemic, CIOs should be encouraged by the results of our survey."
You can find out more in the full survey available from the Algorithmia site.
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