AI needs more than just technology

Companies with AI projects are most successful when the qualification of their own employees has the same priority as investments in intelligent technologies.

This also includes creating a learning culture that supports these qualification measures. This is the core result of an international study conducted on behalf of Microsoft.

In a data analysis, around half a million English-language articles were evaluated for this purpose and, in addition, interviews were conducted with around 12,000 specialists and managers from 20 countries in March 2020.

"We are all experiencing severe constraints right now due to the global corona crisis on a scale not seen before"

says Sabine Bendiek, Chairwoman of the Management Board of Microsoft Germany.

"But the crisis also shows us ways we can use digital technologies to organize our lives and mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

For example, we are currently seeing how artificial intelligence is supporting research in the fight against Corona. AI is at the heart of digital transformation, but sustainable success with AI will only come to those who train their own employees to use it."

The Microsoft study identifies a growing demand for AI professionals that will double in the next six to ten years. The results of the survey give an indication of how companies are meeting this growing demand: by qualifying their own employees.

93.8 percent of executives in "mature" companies say they are actively building skills or plan to do so. As AI becomes more widespread, on an international scale the vast majority of employees are highly motivated to acquire or deepen AI qualifications.

However, this proportion is lower in Germany. This motivation is used productively much more frequently in companies with a high level of AI maturity: Here, 64.7 percent of skilled workers state that they are already participating in corresponding qualification programs.