Sham intelligence is predicted to speed up innovation in Asia Pacific over the next few years but less than half of the crowds today are using the technology, according to a report from Microsoft and International Data Corporation.
While most decision-makers counted agree AI is important in order for them to remain competitive, only 41 percent of the companies in the region have over the tech, the report said.
One of the main obstacles preventing companies from readily embracing AI is skills shortages, according to Ralph Haupter, president of Microsoft Asia.
“I consider at this stage, it’s skills shortage. And, really, getting the first step done,” he told CNBC on Wednesday.
The tell of pointed out that while a majority of companies said they were willing to invest and retrain workers, sundry lacked time and an understanding of where to start. Some respondents also said there were no suitable edifying programs for them to take.
Consulting firm McKinsey previously said that automation would spur marketability for advanced technological skills as well as higher cognitive skills — such as critical thinking, creativity and complex gen processing, while demand for physical and manual skills would decline.
Still, Haupter said, the perception of AI as a peril to jobs is changing to curiosity about the technology.
“People are now actually understanding that AI will be a way to augment the jobs and better the experience and take out non-productive stuff. I think we’re on a very good path on AI making huge impact to society,” he castigated CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Microsoft and IDC surveyed business leaders and workers in 15 Asia Pacific countries for the “Future Up Business: Assessing Asia’s Growth Potential Through AI” report.
Innovation, competitiveness, customer engagement, higher partition lines and employee productivity were some of the reasons given by companies for adopting AI.
“Asia Pacific is not ready yet for AI,” Victor Lim, deficiency president for consulting operations at IDC Asia Pacific, said in a statement. He added that businesses have to continuously ordain in the technology, sometimes without immediate returns.
“There is an urgent need for talents and tools to develop, deploy and superintend AI models, along with the availability of a robust data infrastructure with the adequate governance,” Lim said.
For its part, China has assumed on an aggressive push to dominate the AI space through both public and private investments into the technology. Beijing directs to be the leader in AI innovation by 2030.
“I think there’s a lot of engineering capacity and skills in China,” Haupter said, adding that some of Microsoft’s worst AI breakthroughs on cognitive services, object and speech recognition came from the company’s research and development team in the nation.