More than 80% of Irish business leaders expect generative AI to have a positive or transformative impact on their business in the next five years, PwC’s latest GenAI Business Survey has found.
Up from just 74% last year, the expected positive impacts of Gen AI include increased efficiencies in their employees time at work, significant changes in the way organisations will create and deliver value, increased efficiencies in business leaders’ own time at work and improvements in the quality of an organisation’s products and services.
However, PwC said only about one in four organisations can point to realised operational efficiencies as a result of AI and GenAI initiatives.
Surveying 100 Irish businesses, PwC found evolving views of the macroeconomic impact of GenAI on jobs. While 55% of respondents believed there will be an increase or no net impact on jobs as a result of GenAI, this is down from 83% reported last November.
The survey further reveals that nearly half of business leaders do not plan to use GenAI to address labour shortages or increase workplace automation, down from 70% reported last year.
PwC’s latest data also noted that companies are realising the scale and complexity of AI implementation, with just 7% reported to have widespread or full adoption of AI technologies right now in their business operations.
At the same time, there is significant innovation and activity afoot to enable a surge in AI adoption in the years ahead, with PwC noting that 86% respondents said they are either at the early stages of exploration, testing or partial implementation stages of AI adoption.
“The survey confirms the positive potential of AI and GenAI for Ireland’s economy and businesses,” said David Lee, Chief Technology Officer, PwC Ireland.
“2024 is definitely a ‘moving year’ for Irish organisations in relation to AI. While the number of fully deployed solutions remains low there has been a marked increase over the last 6 months in organisations who are testing or piloting AI tools.”
“This increase in activity levels also highlights the importance of having the appropriate governance in place to safely deploy AI related technologies. While there is evidence that more organisations have plans in place to address this, there is more work to be done to give effect to these plans. This will be increasingly important in the context of the new EU AI Act.”
The survey also found that an overwhelming majority of respondents believe that GenAI will increase cybersecurity risks in the year ahead. It also revealed that GenAI is expected to increase other risks such as legal liabilities and reputation risks (79%), the spread of misinformation (74%) and bias towards specific groups of customers or employees (59%).
In addition, PwC also found that many remain wary of GenAI’s ability to build trust, with few have fully established AI governance structures in place.
“With the majority of Irish business leaders not having confidence that GenAI will enhance their organisation’s ability to build trust, significant focus on implementing governance structures will be critical,” said Martin Duffy, Head of Gen AI at PwC Ireland.
“Good governance of AI systems will soon become a legal requirement under the EU AI Act and is welcomed by the majority of survey respondents. To realise AI’s value responsibly and securely, organisations must establish robust governance frameworks to be able to measure the benefits.”
