Artificial intelligence, 27% of companies ready to invest. Risks worry

The advantage increases the larger the size of the companies: this sort of productivity premium - also linked to the efficiency processes in which systems governed by artificial intelligence are often employed - rises to 19% for medium-sized companies (50-499 employees). But it also grows for the so-called low-tech companies, which record a productivity increase of 15% and thus three percentage points above the average. There is also a potential positive impact on export: with the same characteristics, companies that use Ia are more likely (by around 10%) to record an increase in exports in the next few years than those that do not use it, and the percentage rises to 17% for SMEs.

Among the other motivations driving Italian companies towards AI are the automation of production processes (33.9%), improving the efficiency of production processes (31.8%) and internal decision-making processes (29.6%), as well as marketing strategies and foreign market presence (20.7%). "The data tell us that the majority of companies that use or want to use artificial intelligence do so as a matter of efficiency and improvement of existing activities," continues Esposito, "while only a small percentage (8.5%) plan to use it to implement totally new activities. Perhaps it is also for this reason (or because of the cultural and knowledge issues reported a few lines ago) that investments are directed towards "standard technologies, at least for one in three companies," Esposito points out. One in four, on the other hand, does not really know what it will invest in, due to the unknowns linked to the future developments of Ia. The theme of costs does not seem to emerge - perhaps precisely because of the limited share of companies that want to invest in customised tools: "There are 'entry levels' that do not presuppose a massive investment as is the case in other areas of the technological and digital transition process," says the director general of the Tagliacarne Study Centre.

The risks associated with this technology are worrying, but are not holding back investment: among the companies that plan to make use of it by 2029, the vast majority (81.6%) say they are concerned by the potential risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence. In particular, more than half (47.5%) of companies are troubled by the potential fallout in terms of computer security and privacy, 33% by the unreliability of data and information provided by these tools, 30.5% by the reduction of human relations within the company. Next, the risk of infringement of intellectual property (19%) and the difficulty in identifying legal responsibilities (17.9%) emerge as concerns.

The data repropose the usual North vs. South dichotomy. The winner is the North-East, where 28% of companies have invested or will invest by 2029 in Ia tools; followed by the North-West (27.4%) and the Centre (27%) and three percentage points behind the South and Islands (24%). But the situation is not to be considered static: "The latest data say that on digital, the Middle tends to keep pace with the North. Since investments started later in the South, but in several cases artificial intelligence has low entry levels from the point of view of the cost of the investment, it is likely that, maintaining these rhythms, a 'catch-up' will occur,' says Esposito.

Then there is another 'hot' topic when it comes to business and AI: that of the employment impact of the implementation of these hi-tech tools in business processes. About a third of Italian companies (32.7%) believe that artificial intelligence could lead to a drop in employment, while just 8.4% expect an increase. It has to be said, however, that for almost a third of companies (30.2%) the impact on employment could be zero, thanks to a balance between negative (i.e. the replacement of humans in terms of tasks) and positive effects. Among these is the need for new professional skills: in order to cope with an adequate use of these new technologies, 29.6 per cent of companies envisage an increase in worker training and 13.2 per cent an increase in career opportunities.