Signals of growing caution around AI adoption, while most business leaders remain confident in their organisation’s ability to use the technology successfully.
Confidence among Irish business leaders in their organisations’ ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) declined sharply in June, according to the latest findings from Expleo’s AI Pulse sentiment tracker.
The research, conducted by Opinium on behalf of the global technology and consulting services provider, found that trust in organisations to use AI ethically fell from 73% in May to 62% in June. The figure compares with an average of 72% across the UK, Germany and France.
“Much like how we are approaching cybersecurity, CIOs must have a similar approach to AI”
The monthly survey tracks the views of 800 business leaders across Ireland, the UK, Germany and France and highlights a shift in attitudes towards AI among Irish respondents during the month of June.
Concerns about the way AI is transforming organisations also increased. Some 57% of Irish business leaders said they were concerned about AI’s impact on their organisation, up from 48% in May.
At the same time, fewer respondents viewed AI primarily as a benefit to their business. That figure declined from 64% in May to 51% in June.
Can you work without AI now?
The survey also found that 23% of business leaders in Ireland are struggling to get excited about AI adoption within their organisations, compared with an average of 18% across the other markets surveyed.
Despite these findings, confidence in organisational AI capabilities remains relatively strong. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents expressed confidence in their organisation’s ability to use AI successfully. Overall confidence in AI, measured through Expleo’s AI Pulse sentiment score, stood at 65 out of 100 in June, compared with 66 in May.
The research also examined how business leaders believe their working lives would be affected if AI tools were no longer available.
One in five respondents (20%) said their work would become more stressful without AI, while 21% said it would become more complicated. Elsewhere, 18% said their work would be less stressful without AI and 20% believed it would be less complicated.
A further 16% said they would not have enough time to complete their workload without AI tools, while 8% said they would be unable to carry out their role altogether. Another 18% said the absence of AI would make no difference to their work.
“Our data from June demonstrates exactly why we are tracking AI sentiment in Ireland month-by-month,” said Phil Codd, managing director of Expleo in Ireland.
“As we all know, it is a fast-changing technology that is having a profound impact on businesses. On top of that, highly publicised news and events involving some of the world’s largest AI companies can have huge sway on people’s perceptions. It will be interesting to see how this may play out in our AI barometer going forward,” Codd continued.
“In truth, there are people in every organisation who may not trust AI. Much like how we are approaching cybersecurity, CIOs must have a similar approach to AI. It is only with the right, robust governance and assurance in place that they can reassure their leadership teams and people that their AI is not only safe, but it has real value for each individual, too.”
👉 No tech background needed to bring your business into the AI age! Secure your Google AI Professional Certificate to complete the certification at no cost. Apply now and get started!
-
Bank of Ireland is welcoming new customers every day – funding investments, working capital and expansions across multiple sectors. To learn more, click here
-
For support in challenging times, click here
-
Listen to the ThinkBusiness Podcast for business insights and inspiration. All episodes are here. You can also listen to the Podcast on:
-
Spotify
-
SoundCloud
-
Apple
