An estimated 8% of UK businesses and 7% of US businesses plan to spend over £19.5m on AI (artificial intelligence) initiatives in 2024.
This news may be of interest to those currently assessing investment planning in Cheshire or Oswestry, especially in the technology sphere. These findings are part of the 2024 State of AI report, published by tech consultancy Searce, which surveys businesses as they implement AI technologies.
Much of the investment into generative AI covers tools for customer service, content generation, marketing and sales, internal research, data analysis, coding and capture.
Despite some concerns about technological capability and financial returns, these investments were cited by 31% of respondents as necessary to drive future business growth.
Over 90% of UK respondents consider their AI initiatives successful, and almost a third are looking to increase their AI expenditure by up to 50%, while another 8% plan to boost spending by 100% or over.
In order to achieve this goal, UK business decision-makers have highlighted issues that need to be addressed, such as skills shortages among applicants and the technical proficiency gap with other digital leaders in Europe.
The last government committed more than £200 million to supporting colleges and universities with digital training opportunities, and a further £1.1 billion to fund 4,000 related doctorates. The tech industry has responded too, with Microsoft announcing a multi-million-pound investment in AI skills training in December 2023.
The survey was conducted using a sample of 300 C-suite and high-level tech executives at companies with at least £390 million in revenue.
