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It seems there is a major disparity between the wants of chief executives and chief information officers when it comes to AI.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is here to stay. The technology is already being celebrated by business leaders and workers alike and has the potential to revolutionise the very future of work.
So why aren’t people investing?
According to Lenovo’s CIO Playbook 2024 – It’s all about Smarter AI, only 2 per cent of CIOs in Australia and New Zealand are investing in generative AI, despite 83 per cent deeming the technology “critical for business”.
It seems that business leaders are excited to adopt the technology, announcing increasing investments in the technology going forward.
However, there are disparities between the interests of CEOs and CIOs who are concerned with adopting the technology without first addressing some major concerns.
While CEOs and business leaders are largely focused on leveraging emerging technologies and automatic infrastructure to improve customer satisfaction, CIOs are cautious of the challenges the technology brings.
According to the report, the top challenge for CIOs is cyber security. Lenovo’s findings acknowledge that AI technology can aid in bolstering cyber security operations such as threat detection, incident response, penetration testing and more. In fact, 76 per cent of Australian CIOs already are using AI to enhance their security frameworks, with a reported 98 per cent accuracy rate.
Despite this, there are several challenges and ethical considerations that need to be adopted.
Firstly, generative AI tools, in their current state, are majorly flawed, particularly in the way they hallucinate. In a security atmosphere, a hallucinating AI that then generates an incorrect prediction can be incredibly damaging, thus making the technology unreliable. This is the top concern for Australian CIOs, with 35 per cent concerned with the issue.
Closely following, 27 per cent of CIOs are worried about the capability limitations of generative AI technology, leading to a hesitance to invest and depend on these solutions.
Following that, the ability for these tools to be manipulated and used for malicious purposes is a major ethical concern, as is the need for businesses to be accountable for AI actions and transparent about how the technology is used.
Additionally, being such a new technology, workers typically are not trained to use or deal with these technologies, creating recruitment difficulties, an issue that 46 per cent of ANZ CIOs are concerned with.
That being said, while investment in AI is reportedly low despite anticipation and excitement for the technology, adoption of the technology is growing rapidly.
According to the report, there has been a 45 per cent year-on-year increase in 2024 in the Asia-Pacific region.
Furthermore, the above concerns are not to suggest that CIOs are distrusting or against AI. In fact, ANZ CIOs are some of the most confident in the world, according to Lenovo ISG general manager and managing director Kumar Mitra.
“CIOs in ANZ are most confident about AI, with 83 per cent expressing certainty that it will create a competitive advantage, and 38 per cent of them consider it to be a game changer for their organisations,” he said.
“Higher investments in GenAI and machine learning, followed by deep learning systems, underscore their desire to elevate operational efficiency, security, decision-making processes, and customer experiences.”
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