Ninety-two percent of AI leaders train their
technologists in ethics; 74 percent evaluate AI outcomes weekly,
says report from SAS, Accenture Applied Intelligence, Intel, and
Forbes Insights
Canadian businesses lead in establishing ethics
committees to review the use of AI but are slightly behind global
peers in achieving real success of AI deployments
TORONTO, Sept. 20, 2018 /CNW/ - A new study shows that
business leaders are taking steps to ensure responsible use of
artificial intelligence (AI) within their organizations. Most AI
adopters – which now account for 72 percent of organizations
globally – conduct ethics training for their technologists (70
percent) and have ethics committees in place to review the use of
AI (63 percent).
AI adoption rate:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
78
|
65
|
68
|
73
|
69
|
74
|
72
|
73
|
75
|
74
|
Ethics trainings for technologists:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
72
|
69
|
67
|
94
|
75
|
71
|
61
|
75
|
80
|
59
|
Ethics committee to reviews use of AI:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
72
|
62
|
73
|
69
|
65
|
36
|
72
|
63
|
60
|
65
|
AI leaders – organizations rating their deployment of AI
"successful" or "highly successful" – also take the lead on
responsible AI efforts: Almost all (92 percent) train their
technologists in ethics compared to 48 percent of other AI
adopters.
Ethics trainings for technologists – AI leaders:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
89
|
100
|
91
|
100
|
100
|
100
|
75
|
90
|
88
|
100
|
Ethics trainings for technologists – rest of AI
adopters:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
56
|
50
|
53
|
80
|
55
|
20
|
33
|
50
|
71
|
33
|
The findings are based on a global survey among 305 business
leaders, more than half of them chief information officers, chief
technology officers, and chief analytics officers. The study, "AI
Momentum, Maturity and Models for Success," was commissioned by
SAS, Accenture Applied Intelligence and Intel, and conducted by
Forbes Insights in July 2018. 44
Canadian AI leaders were surveyed, representing the second largest
sample in the global study.
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
57
|
65
|
66
|
73
|
62
|
37
|
28
|
68
|
60
|
52
|
AI now has a real impact on peoples' lives which highlights the
importance of having a strong ethical framework surrounding its
use, according to the report.
"Organizations have begun addressing concerns and aberrations
that AI has been known to cause, such as biased and unfair
treatment of people," said Rumman
Chowdhury, Responsible AI Lead at Accenture Applied
Intelligence. "These are positive steps; however, organizations
need to move beyond directional AI ethics codes that are in the
spirit of the Hippocratic Oath to 'do no harm'. They need to
provide prescriptive, specific and technical guidelines to develop
AI systems that are secure, transparent, explainable, and
accountable – to avoid unintended consequences and compliance
challenges that can be harmful to individuals, businesses, and
society. Data scientists are hungry for these guidelines."
AI leaders also recognize the strong connection between
analytics and their AI success. Of those, 79 percent report that
analytics plays a major or central role in their organization's AI
efforts compared to only 14 percent of those who have not yet
benefited from their use of AI.
Analytics plays major/central role – AI leaders:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
89
|
80
|
50
|
55
|
80
|
64
|
92
|
80
|
78
|
92
|
Analytics plays major/central role – rest of AI
adopters:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
21
|
7
|
3
|
9
|
16
|
50
|
42
|
8
|
18
|
12
|
"Those who have deployed AI recognize that success in AI is
success in analytics," said Oliver Schabenberger, Chief Operating
Officer and Chief Technology Officer at SAS. "For them, analytics
has achieved a central role in AI."
AI oversight is not optional
Despite popular messages suggesting AI operates independently of
human intervention, the research shows that AI leaders recognize
that oversight is not optional for these technologies. Nearly
three-quarters (74 percent) of AI leaders reported careful
oversight with at least weekly review or evaluation of outcomes
(less successful AI adopters: 33 percent).
Weekly reviews/evaluations of AI outputs – AI
leaders:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
78
|
100
|
55
|
73
|
89
|
67
|
50
|
70
|
75
|
100
|
Weekly reviews/evaluations of AI outputs – rest of AI
adopters:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
33
|
50
|
42
|
60
|
18
|
20
|
33
|
33
|
29
|
38
|
Additionally, 43 percent of AI leaders shared that their
organization has a process for augmenting or overriding results
deemed questionable during review (less successful AI adopters: 28
percent).
Processes for augmenting/overriding AI results – AI
leaders:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
44
|
20
|
30
|
45
|
33
|
44
|
55
|
22
|
38
|
62
|
Processes for augmenting/overriding AI results – rest of AI
adopters:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
17
|
33
|
23
|
25
|
67
|
33
|
33
|
25
|
25
|
27
|
Still, the report states that oversight processes have a long
way to go before they catch up with advances in AI technology.
"The ability to understand how AI makes decisions builds trust
and enables effective human oversight," said Yinyin Liu, head of data science for Intel AI.
"For developers and customers deploying AI, algorithm transparency
and accountability, as well as having AI systems signal that they
are not human, will go a long way toward developing the trust
needed for widespread adoption."
It stands to reason that companies are taking steps toward
ethical AI and ensuring AI oversight because they know that faulty
AI output can cause repercussions. Of the organizations that have
either already deployed AI or are planning to do so, 60 percent
stated that they are concerned about the impact of AI-driven
decisions on customer engagement – for example, that their actions
will not show enough empathy or customers will trust them less.
Concerned about the impact of AI-driven decisions on customer
engagement:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
65
|
60
|
59
|
70
|
48
|
58
|
68
|
62
|
68
|
46
|
Other key findings from the survey include:
- Overall, 72 percent of organizations globally are now using AI
in one or more business areas.
AI adoption rate:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
78
|
65
|
68
|
73
|
69
|
74
|
72
|
73
|
75
|
74
|
- More than half (51 percent) of AI adopters indicated their
deployment of AI has been a real success – citing more accurate
forecasting and decision-making, higher success at acquiring
customers, and increased organizational productivity as the primary
benefits.
AI deployments real success:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
45
|
33
|
31
|
55
|
37
|
58
|
59
|
48
|
47
|
33
|
"The survey results confirm that Canada can be a global leader in ethical AI,"
says Jodie Wallis, Managing
Director, Artificial Intelligence for Canada, at Accenture. "In Canada, we are concerned about the social
implications of AI and spend a lot of time testing the technology
and ensuring we don't have unintended consequences. This creates a
clear opportunity for additional economic value from it."
AI benefits:
Benefit
|
AUS
|
BRA
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
Forecasting /
decision-making
|
60
|
|
56
|
65
|
67
|
74
|
|
57
|
53
|
59
|
Improved customer
acquisition
|
60
|
60
|
46
|
|
|
|
|
52
|
53
|
67
|
Org.
productivity
|
50
|
|
59
|
60
|
|
|
|
52
|
|
|
A reduction or the
elimination of manual tasks
|
70
|
|
|
|
59
|
|
73
|
|
|
56
|
Better resource
utilization
|
60
|
60
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Improved customer
satisfaction/retention
|
|
60
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Increased
innovation
|
|
67
|
|
65
|
|
63
|
|
52
|
|
|
Improved product
quality
|
|
60
|
|
|
|
|
68
|
|
|
|
Faster time to
insights from data
|
|
65
|
|
60
|
|
68
|
|
|
|
|
Reduced operating
costs
|
|
|
|
|
56
|
|
73
|
|
53
|
|
Faster response times
to customers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
62
|
53
|
56
|
Better anomaly
detection
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
58
|
|
- Nearly half (46 percent) of AI adopters overall said their
organization has fully deployed AI, either in one or multiple use
cases. Other adopters are still in the experimenting and
prototyping phase.
AI fully deployed in one or more use cases:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
39
|
62
|
30
|
38
|
45
|
57
|
67
|
50
|
47
|
47
|
- Respondents outside of the C-suite were more likely to see the
impact of AI positively: More than half (55 percent) of non-C-level
executives say their AI efforts have been "successful" or "very
successful." Only 38 percent of the C-suite reported the same.
- Many organizations see an advantage for their workforce by way
of elevated roles. Sixty-four percent strongly or completely agree
they are already seeing the effects, as employees focus on more
strategic tasks rather than operative ones, thanks to AI.
AI elevating employee roles:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
75
|
73
|
64
|
55
|
48
|
58
|
82
|
67
|
63
|
62
|
- However, nearly 20 percent identify "resistance from employees
due to concerns about job security" as a challenge to their AI
efforts.
Resistance from employees is challenge:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
13
|
9
|
39
|
26
|
35
|
22
|
26
|
13
|
13
|
22
|
Plus, 57 percent agree or strongly agree with the statement, "We
are concerned about the impact of AI on employee relations (e.g.,
employees might feel threatened or overstrained.)"
Concerned about impact of AI on employee relations:
AUS
|
BRAZ
|
CAN
|
CHIN
|
FRA
|
GER
|
IND
|
JAP
|
UK
|
USA
|
80
|
80
|
51
|
45
|
59
|
42
|
45
|
52
|
37
|
62
|
"As with any new technology that's quickly gaining traction,
there will be challenges to overcome," says Ross Gagnon, research director at Forbes
Insights. "But the opportunities AI presents are seemingly endless,
from operational efficiencies to increased productivity and
revenue. The question executives should be asking themselves is not
whether to deploy AI, but how quickly?"
Today's announcement was made at the Analytics Experience
conference in San Diego, a
business technology conference presented by SAS that brings
together thousands of attendees on-site and online to share ideas
on critical business issues.
About this research
The survey includes responses from
305 global business leaders in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. It was conducted in
July 2018 by Forbes Insights, the
strategic research and thought leadership practice of Forbes Media.
Download the full study for more details.
About Accenture
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visit accenture.com/appliedintelligence.
Copyright © 2018 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture,
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