AI Stats News: 46% Of Consumers Feel Better About AI

Recent surveys, studies, forecasts and other quantitative assessments of the progress and impact of AI highlight the growing respect for data and its uses by businesses everywhere and the increasingly positive—but still mixed—attitudes towards AI by US consumers.

46% of US consumers have changed how they feel about AI and now think it is a positive innovation GETTY

Business attitudes

87% of CEOs regard data as a strategic asset that can be used to support deeply nuanced, personalized experiences powered by sophisticated, intelligent operations [IBM worldwide survey of 2,131 CEOs]

89% of financial firms agree that the intelligent use of data and analytics is increasingly becoming the only source of differentiation in the financial industry; 65% of technology firms have increased revenue through better use of their data assets; 60% of retail firms have increased revenue through better use of their data assets; 88% of healthcare and life sciences firms agree that advancements in data analysis and correlation of different data sets will have as big an impact on health outcomes as other medical advancements; 55% of manufacturing and resources firms have increased revenue through better use of their data assets; 93% of traditional communications and media companies agree that they must use data to reinvent their services or be disrupted by alternative entertainment offerings; 52% of public sector agencies have reduced their cost of operations through better use of their data assets; 51% of higher education institutions used data to provide better and more proactive protection from cyber threats [Splunk and Enterprise Strategy Group survey of 1,350 senior business and IT decision-makers across eight industries in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US]

Consumer attitudes

46% of US consumers have changed how they feel about AI and now think it is a positive innovation; 24% believe healthcare – faster, more accurate diagnosis and treatments – is the greatest promise for AI; 39% see AI having its biggest impact on smart home devices, like voice assistants, Nest thermostats, Ring doorbells, etc.; over 90% were fine with an AI algorithm playing matchmaker for them; 37% would object to AI replacing teachers for their kids at school; 87% would more likely trust a human doctor with their medical diagnosis; 27% would object to AI piloting their next plane or train ride; 34% said their biggest fear about AI immersion into their daily lives is that an AI program will make a lethal mistake or hurt people [Blue Fountain Media survey of more than 1,000 US adults]

Chatbots impact

Career sites with a chatbot drive more leads (95% increase), “apply” clicks (13% increase), and completed applications (40% increase) than a career site without a chatbot [Phenom analysis of a data sample from over 20 million chatbot interactions across more than 100 Phenom Bot deployments]

The future of work

AI jobs accounted for four in 1,000 job postings in 2019, up from just one in 1,000 in 2016; California, Washington, New York and Massachusetts account for 90% of all ZipRecruiter-advertised jobs that required advanced AI skills and 60% of all AI jobs [ZipRecruiter]

The Life of Data

Analysis of 190,000 data deletion requests to over 30,000 companies worldwide has found that 83% of an average person’s data is held by companies they have only interacted with once; 92% of consumers feel uncomfortable about the number of companies that collect data about them and 86% see giving away data as impairing their right for privacy and/or their right for free choice; 88% believe that giving up one's privacy is the cost for using the internet and that there are no other options [Mine]

The largest data-center markets in the U.S. burned through a record-high 396.4 megawatts of power last year, up 33% from 2018, with most of the demand supplied by facilities owned and operated by Amazon, Microsoft and other cloud services [CBRE Group]

48% of Americans say it is acceptable for DNA testing companies to share customers’ genetic data with law enforcement agencies to help solve crimes [Pew]

AI funding

Led by Intel (19 investments), Google (16), and Microsoft (11), corporate venture capital investments in AI startups reached $10.6 billion in 2019, up from $6.2 billion in 2018 [CB Insights]

AI markets and predictions

The size of China’s biometrics market has increased from 80 million RMB in 2002 to 17.01 billion RMB in 2018 [ChinAI]

The smart-city AI software market worldwide will reach $4.9 billion in 2025, up from $673.8 million in 2019 [Tractica]

By 2025, AI powered enterprises will see 100% increase in productivity [IDC]

AI quotable quotes

“If I get a first name and a cellphone number, you’d be shocked how much information Palantir can provide”—Charles Rettig, IRS Commissioner

“The first wave of AI failed circa 1985 because it was naive and ambitious, and it didn't realize just how complex language and communication was. The second wave of AI, right now, is soon going to fail because too much trickery and even self-trickery is used”—Simone Teufel, University of Cambridge

“What’s happening right now is not ‘AI.’ That was an intellectual aspiration and that's still alive today as an aspiration… the dreams and aspirations are five hundred years from now—that's like the Greeks sitting there and saying it would be neat to get to the moon someday. We have no clue how the brain does computation”—Michael I. Jordan, University of California, Berkeley