More than 80% of Irish business leaders expect generative AI to have a positive or transformative impact on their business over the next five years, according to PwC's latest GenAI business survey.
Positive impacts expected from Gen AI include more efficient employee work hours, significant changes to how organizations create and deliver value, more efficient work hours for business leaders themselves, and improved quality of organizations’ products and services, up from just 74% last year.
However, PwC said that only around one in four organizations can cite operational efficiencies realized as a result of their AI and GenAI initiatives.
PwC surveyed 100 Irish businesses and found changing views on the macroeconomic impact of GenAI on employment, with 55% of respondents believing GenAI will either increase employment or have no net impact, down from 83% reported in November last year.
Additionally, the survey revealed that nearly half of business leaders have no plans to use GenAI to address labor shortages or increase automation in the workplace, down from 70% reported last year.
According to new data from PwC, businesses are only now realizing the scale and complexity of AI implementations, with only 7% of companies reporting that they currently have extensive or fully implemented AI technologies in their business operations.
At the same time, significant innovation and activity is underway that will enable AI adoption to surge over the next few years, with PwC noting that 86% of respondents said they are in the early stages of researching, testing or partially implementing AI adoption.
“This research reinforces the positive potential that AI and GenAI have for the Irish economy and businesses,” said David Lee, chief technology officer at PwC Ireland.
“2024 is undoubtedly the 'year of transformation' for Irish organisations when it comes to AI. While the number of fully deployed solutions remains low, there has been a marked increase in organisations testing or piloting AI tools over the past six months.”
“This increased level of activity also highlights the importance of having the right governance in place for the safe deployment of AI-related technologies. There is evidence that more organizations are putting plans in place to address this issue, but more work is needed to implement these plans. This will be increasingly important in the context of the new EU AI law.”
The survey also revealed that an overwhelming majority of respondents believe GenAI will increase cybersecurity risks over the next 12 months, and that they also expect GenAI to increase other risks, including legal liability and reputational risk (79%), the spread of misinformation (74%) and bias against certain customer or employee groups (59%).
Additionally, PwC found that many companies remain wary of GenAI’s trust-building capabilities, and few have fully established AI governance structures.
“The majority of Irish business leaders are not confident that GenAI will enhance their organisation's ability to build trust, so a focus on putting in place governance structures will be key,” said Martin Duffy, Gen AI lead at PwC Ireland.
“Proper governance of AI systems will soon be a legal requirement under EU AI law, a move welcomed by the majority of survey respondents. To realise the value of AI responsibly and safely, organisations need to establish robust governance frameworks against which the benefits can be measured.”
