While the majority of organizations that use artificial intelligence (AI) are still experimenting with the technology, only 12% are using it at an AI maturity level that achieves a strong competitive advantage, according to new global research from Accenture.
“The Art of AI Maturity: Advancing from Practice to Performance” uncovers strategies for AI success through a holistic framework, which includes a new index to express company AI maturity on a 0-100 scale. According to the research, AI maturity is the degree to which organizations outperform their peers in a combination of AI-related foundational and differentiating capabilities. These capabilities include the technology — data, AI, cloud — as well as organizational strategy, Responsible AI, C-suite sponsorship, talent and culture.
The research puts the median AI maturity of organizations at a moderate score of 36, revealing most companies have significant opportunities to generate greater value with AI. The research highlights a small group (12%) of organizations that already use AI to outpace their competitors. This group is dubbed AI Achievers, with a score of 64 on the maturity scale, almost doubling that of others and correlating with 50 percent higher revenue growth than their peers.
The analysis further shows that most companies (63%) are AI Experimenters, barely scratching the surface of AI’s potential with an AI maturity score of 29. AI Innovators (13%), scoring 50, and AI Builders (12%), at 44, are somewhat advanced in their level of AI maturity, but are still leaving the full value of AI untapped.
Regardless of industry, the impact of AI on businesses is growing and accelerating. The world’s largest companies that discussed AI on their earnings calls in 2021 were 40% more likely to see their share prices increase — up from 23% in 2018. Moreover, investments in AI are on the rise. In 2021, 19% of the surveyed companies used more than 30% of their tech budgets for AI projects. By 2024, the percentage of organizations investing more than 30% of their tech budgets in AI will increase to 49%.
Subsequently, the machine learning models utilized for the research suggest that the share of AI Achievers will increase rapidly from the current 12% to 27% by 2024. In the same timeframe, the overall AI maturity score will rise from 36 today to 50.