First Swiss AI Report on the use of artificial intelligence

For the Swiss AI Report, published for the first time, 92 Swiss companies of various sizes were surveyed. The report was commissioned by the Canton of Schwyz and compiled by the think tank W.I.R.E and the Mindfire Foundation.

Swiss AI Report still finds a lot of catching up to do

The results reveal clear trends. The topic of AI is a strategic core issue in companies. This is not a matter of course for a new technology topic, write the authors of the report. However, 56% of companies still see themselves at level 1 of 5 in terms of the effective degree of automation. 47 percent of respondents do not yet see AI supporting their core business. According to the Swiss AI Report, Swiss companies are therefore still at the beginning of the development towards the systematic use of artificial intelligence. At the same time, many companies want to invest in AI technologies. 75 percent intend to spend up to one million on this in the coming year, while 20 percent of companies intend to spend up to five million. The willingness to position themselves in the AI environment is particularly evident among large companies. Only around 10 percent of SMEs that are proactively looking into AI applications also have a fixed AI budget. Among large companies, the figure is 40 percent.

Fruitful cooperation between science and business

The report also concludes that it is very pleasing to see that cooperation between business and science is working in Switzerland. According to the report, two thirds of the companies surveyed maintain a partnership with universities in the context of AI. Just as many want to build the technical foundations for the successful use of AI themselves. Only 8 percent want to buy them in completely. Accordingly, the best talent is in high demand. In view of the shortage of skilled workers, around half of the companies already offer internal training courses on AI. Many Swiss companies are apparently also aware of the risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence. For example, 45% fear incorrect results when using artificial intelligence as a result of an inadequate data basis or subjective bias when training the algorithms. It is striking that only 3% of those surveyed expressed concerns of an ethical nature. Only 1.2% also see the growing energy requirements and environmental sustainability in connection with the use of AI as a major challenge. Source and further information: ai-con.ch / www.thewire.ch

This article originally appeared on m-q.ch - https://www.m-q.ch/de/erster-swiss-ai-report-zum-einsatz-kuenstlicher-intelligenz/