Business chiefs feel pressured to use AI but don’t have the skills

Almost three quarters of business leaders say they feel pressured to adopt AI and machine learning at their company despite not having the skills to do so.

Almost three quarters of business leaders say they feel pressured into adopting AI and machine learning.

Less than one third of business leaders in Australia are “very confident” they can implement generative AI programs at work in an ethical manner, according to a new survey.

While 80 per cent agree AI and machine learning can help their staff to work more efficiently and make better decisions, 77 per cent are concerned about the accuracy and reliability of the data AI engines surface.

Those are the findings of a new survey from enterprise finance and human resources platform Workday, which surveyed 1000 business leaders across America, Australia and New Zealand and Europe, the Middle East and Africa between March and May this year.

Local business leaders accounted for 150 of those surveyed, with the largest number of participants come from EMEA and 400 from the US. Business leaders came from the fields of human resources, finance and IT.

Of those surveyed, just 12 per cent believe AI and machine learning would replace humans completely at work, while 43 per cent believe the technologies will replace only some tasks while 45 per cent believe the technologies will benefit workers and create new pathways.

The survey found that most leaders shared the view that humans needed to be involved when it came to decision-making using artificial intelligence, with 93 per cent of respondents – or 930 business leaders – responding as such on the survey.

On the implementation of artificial intelligence within organisations, 73 per cent said they felt pressured into doing so while 72 per cent believed their organisation lacked the skills for the implementation.

Respondents were more candid than others of a recent Salesforce survey – which found 90 per cent of Australian C-suite executives were confident they understand generative AI and could safely use the technology without exposing themselves or their company to a data breach.

About 76 per cent of the Workday survey said their own knowledge of AI and machine learning needed to be improved.

Despite lacking confidence in their knowledge of the technologies, 90 per cent of respondents said they us AI to manage staff, finances or both and 80 per cent separately said that AI and machine learning was needed to remain competitive.

Workday chief technology officer Jim Stratton said most business leaders understood the importance of AI and machine learning but there was a clear skills deficit.

“Enterprise organisations continue to lack the skills needed to implement the technology, and concerns around data integrity, ethics, and role elimination persist,” he said.

“Successful adoption of AI and ML require a commitment to keeping humans in the decision-making loop and working with partners who are committed to responsible AI and maintaining data integrity.”