India among leading countries where companies have deployed AI: IBM report

About 59% of large organisations (over 1,000 employees) surveyed in India are using AI actively in their businesses -- highest among countries surveyed, a report has said, adding that costs and skill gap are the biggest barriers to AI adoption in India.
According to the ‘IBM Global AI Adoption Index 2023’ report, early adopters are leading the way, with 74% of those Indian enterprises already working with AI, having accelerated their investments in AI in the past 24 months in areas like R&D and workforce reskilling.
“The increase in AI adoption and investments by Indian enterprises is a good indicator that they are already experiencing the benefits from AI. However, there is still a significant opportunity to accelerate as many businesses are hesitant to move beyond experimentation and deploy AI at scale,” said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India & South Asia.
Challenges for AI adoption in India
While maintaining Indian companies among leaders in AI adoption, the report also highlighted that there are some challenges that are needed to be addressed to accelerate AI adoption. These challenges include hiring employees with the right skills and ethical issues.
“To use its [AI’s] full potential in the next months, data and AI governance tools are essential for building AI models that enterprises can trust and use confidently. Without governance tools, AI can cause data privacy problems, legal issues, and ethical dilemmas for companies – which we have already seen affecting many around the world,” he added.
Key highlights for India from the IBM report

AI adoption among surveyed companies is driven by easier to use AI tools and the need to cut costs and automate processes, the report noted.