More than half of Irish IT leaders are not confident of their organisation’s ability to cope with the demands of artificial intelligence (AI), a new survey has found. That is higher than the global average, the Equinix 2023 Global Tech Trends Survey found, and comes after a year of breakthroughs in the technology.
The survey found that the majority of businesses – 85 per cent – are already using, or are planning to use, AI across their business. But Irish IT leaders have less confidence that their digital infrastructure can cope with the demands of AI than their European counterparts, with 54 per cent doubtful that their infrastructure can cope, compared with 49 per cent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Furthermore almost 60 per cent of Irish organisations think their teams will not be able to accommodate the use of AI, and more than a third put machine learning and AI skills on their most-wanted list for team growth in the past two years. That lack of skills has put some 46 per cent off adopting the new technologies, with costs also a factor.
“All industries are being transformed by AI – including our own. We are already experimenting with how it can enable greater operational efficiency and energy savings – and it has the potential to do so much more,” said Peter Lantry, managing director for Equinix in Ireland.
“Ireland’s digital economy is growing and there is no question that AI will play a central role in its continued growth. From disease detection in healthcare, to fighting cybercrime in financial services, it will have a profound impact on our everyday lives, with every industry benefiting from its implementation. Without the right digital infrastructure underpinning it AI cannot be intelligent, and given the pace of change businesses will quickly find themselves left behind.”
