AI spending seen to exceed 52% beyond IT budgets: study

The report indicated that 81 percent of surveyed executives and 96 percent of their teams already use AI at moderate or significant levels. (Pexels Photo)

By Anadolu, Philippine News Agency

ISTANBUL  – A report by the IBM’s Institute for Business Value (IBV) on Tuesday said retail and consumer product executives surveyed are significantly shifting attention to artificial intelligence (AI), with respondents predicting a 52 percent increase in spending outside traditional IT operations in the coming year.

By 2025, retail and consumer products companies surveyed said they plan to allocate an average of 3.32 percent of their revenue to AI – an equivalent of USD33.2 million annually for a USD1 billion company.

The report indicated that 81 percent of surveyed executives and 96 percent of their teams already use AI at moderate or significant levels.

Surveyed executives anticipate that 31 percent of employees will need to acquire new skills for working with AI in the next year, rising to 45 percent in the next three years.

Investment in ecosystem platforms and solutions enabling the exchange of data and AI models, could see a significant jump.

“AI is no longer just a tool; it’s a strategic imperative,” Dee Waddell, a global industry leader, consumer, travel and transportation industries leader at the IBV, said.

The report said successful brands can shift from treating AI as a productivity tool to recognizing it as a primary catalyst for enterprise-wide innovation. Accomplishing the shift will demand reimagining traditional governance models and adopting new reskilling approaches.