The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise: UK Perspective
How we train, apply, govern and work with Generative AI (GenAI) will determine its impact on our organisations and wider society. The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise: Now Decides Next is a survey series tracking trends in use cases, sentiment, adoption and challenges throughout 2024.
This executive summary provides key findings for the UK using data from the second wave of The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise: Now Decides Next. It aims to provide a snapshot of the current state of the adoption and use of GenAI within UK organisations, alongside insight into emerging trends within the space.
Methodology
To obtain a global view of how generative AI is being adopted by organizations on the leading edge of AI, Deloitte surveyed 1,982 leaders between January and March 2024. These organisations should be considered more advanced users of AI and they all have one or more working implementations of AI being used daily. Respondents were senior leaders in their organization and included board and C-suite members, and those at the president, vice president and director level.
The survey sample was split equally between IT and line of business leaders. Six countries were represented: Australia (99), France (131), Germany (150), India (200), UK (200) and the US (1,202).
Enthusiasm for AI paralleled by increasing investment by UK organisations
Organisations in the UK are bullish about the transformative potential of GenAI, 71 per cent of UK leaders surveyed believe that GenAI will substantially transform their organisation within the next three years. UK executives feel positively about the change which they predict their organisations are going to undergo, with excitement and fascination the two emotions which they feel most commonly about the nascent technology.
The positive sentiment felt towards AI by leaders in the UK is being accompanied by expanding budgets. Of those surveyed in the UK, 75 per cent expect their organisations investment in AI to increase over the next fiscal year. For around half of UK organisations surveyed (47%) GenAI is less than 20 per cent of their overall AI budget. As budgets for total AI spend increase over the next year, we expect greater capital to be allocated to GenAI. Many organisations have experimented with GenAI and developed pilot projects, but to scale they need to map and forecast Return on Investment (ROI) - this is the next challenge.
UK executives keen to acquire expertise in GenAI
Despite a large majority of UK executives’ sentiment that GenAI will substantially change their organisation, currently only 34 per cent of those surveyed believe that their organisation currently possesses a high or very high level of expertise in the technology. Given how new the technology is, this is a fair reflection of the expertise that exists in most UK organisations. Executives surveyed understand their aggregated skillsets, and their limitations. As organisations experiment and establish use cases, re-train and hire new staff, the level of expertise within organisations should grow – but can it keep pace with advances in the technology?
The gap between eagerness to adopt GenAI and expertise with the technology is reflected by a changing approach to talent – 76 per cent of UK leaders expect to adjust their talent strategy due to generative AI within the next two years. We expect that there will be greater demand for more machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) specialists in the UK economy. A minority of organisations report that they are already concentrating a high or very high level of effort into reskilling workers (31%) and recruiting and hiring technical talent (34%). While most organisations predict that changes to talent are on the way, they may be reluctant to enact that change until they have a clearer picture of how GenAI will impact their organisation and the skills which they need.
Leaders see potential risks for their organisations and are taking steps to manage them
While business leaders are enthusiastic about GenAI, many are cognisant of the risks which it may present to their organisations. The biggest fear for UK leaders is being able to comply with regulations (38%). With regulations in every territory fresh and developing quickly, it is to be expected that organisations face a level of uncertainty over their ability to meet them. Misuse of client / customer data (33%) and lack of confidence in results (33%) are the second most prominent concerns for business leaders in the UK.
Some of the UK executives surveyed report that their organisations are already taking pro-active steps to manage the risks presented by GenAI. The most common risk mitigation strategies used by organisations are: establishing governance for generative AI tools (52%), regulatory compliance monitoring (42%) and AI tool auditing and testing (41%). As organisations in the UK increasingly adopt GenAI, effectively managing the risks presented by the technology will only increase in importance.
GenAI is an inspired new way for organisations to generate advantage catalysed by connection, collaboration and creativity.