AI Technologies Have Great Potential for the Future

Artificial intelligence (AI) are computer systems or software programmes that are able to both act independently and learn how to improve themselves. Since they are able to autonomously execute certain processes and optimise them, AI is quickly gaining in importance in companies, administrations and our everyday life. While already today, AI is used in search engines, online shops or language assistants, e.g. in the form of algorithms, this goes unnoticed by many.

This year’s Monitoring Report: DIGITAL Economy 2018 produced by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, and Kantar TNS on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has a special focus on AI (from page 62 onwards). The main object of interest was to investigate the attitude of German companies towards AI. The results indicate that the companies’ level of information regarding AI is significantly higher than the current user rate of less than five per cent of companies in the commercial sector would suggest. This shows that companies are well aware of the importance of AI technologies, but that their active application is still in its early stages in many businesses.

Claudia Nemat, executive board member at Deutsche Telekom responsible for technology and innovation, also pointed out in her lecture at ZEW on “Artificial Intelligence: A Wake-up Call for Europe” that AI still has a long way to go. According to Nemat, AI is set to fundamentally change the way we work and think, and where it is already being used, it is extraordinarily powerful. That being said, AI is still far from being the “holy grail” that can solve all our problems. With a view to international competition, Nemat called for Europe to significantly increase investments in AI research and development in order to avoid being at a great competitive disadvantage compared to the USA and Asia.