Great expectations – Australian business leaders excited about Gen AI but barriers to adoption remain

31 January 2024: More than three quarters of Australian business and technology leaders expect Generative AI to drive substantial transformation within their organisation and industry over the next three years but almost half say a lack of technical talent and skills is holding them back.

These findings are part of a new report from the Deloitte AI Institute^TM - The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise: Now decides next - released at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The report is based on a survey of more than 2,800 Director to C-suite level respondents across six industries and 16 countries, and explores how actions taken now will guide Gen AI adoption and whether its benefits are fully realised.

Deloitte Australia CEO Adam Powick said: “Generative AI is transformative technology and we’re already seeing significant opportunities for innovation and productivity improvement across many industry sectors.

“As business leaders, we need to find a balance between mitigating the risks of this technology and unlocking and empowering ideas for improving client service, quality and the way we work.

“Driving benefits at scale requires a clear strategy and governance model, access to the latest technology and expertise, and a focus on workforce education and reskilling as organisations try to keep pace with this rapidly evolving technology.”

Key findings from the report:

• 79% of Australian business and technology leaders expect Gen AI to drive substantial transformation within their organisation and industry over the next three years
• 49% say a lack of technical talent and skills is the biggest barrier to adoption, 14% higher than the global average
• 72% of Australian business and technology leaders list excitement as the top sentiment when it comes to Gen AI, 11% higher than the global averge
• 40% see intellectual property issues as the biggest concern when it comes to Gen AI adoption
• 57% say they are sufficiently educating employees on the capabilities, benefits, and value of Gen AI, 10% higher than the global average
• 21% of organisations say they are “highly” or “very highly” prepared to address governance and risk issues
• 60% believe the rise of Gen AI tools/applications will erode trust in national and global institutions, 11% higher than the global average
• 86% see a need for more global regulation to manage the widespread adoption of Gen AI, 8% higher than the global average. 

Deloitte Australia Strategy & Artificial Intelligence Lead Partner, Stu Scotis said; “Businesses are moving towards prioritising investment in Gen AI to unlock tangible benefits for their clients and their people. 

“Employers are also seriously thinking about workforce design as AI increases demand for some skills and makes others less relevant. Already we’ve seen a growing demand for education and skills training with more than 600 people passing through our AI Fluency workshops.” 

Deloitte Australia AI Institute Leader, Kellie Nuttall said: “We will only see the full tranformative potential of GenAI when it is applied at scale, with the right focus on the right value pools. To do this, organisations will need to move from use case experimentation to full integration across their businesses. 

“Underpinning this will be the need for organisations to develop strong ethical and cultural practices around AI. This will be as important as AI utilisation itself.” 

The full report is available here.