Despite the Hype: Many Domestic Companies Without AI Strategy

According to an analysis by the consulting firm EY, currently only one third (33 percent) of the companies surveyed use AI, while another third (32 percent) plan to introduce AI tools in the coming year. 61 percent are skeptical and do not want to introduce AI for the time being or are rather hesitant.

For the analysis, EY surveyed 100 executives from large and medium-sized companies with more than 100 employees. The surveys were conducted by phone from December 2024 to February 2025.

"Artificial intelligence has already found its way into many Austrian companies, but there is still a lot of room for growth," said Susanne Zach, Head of AI and Data at EY Austria. Companies need to "stay on the ball" to avoid falling behind in competition. "In many areas, AI is still in its infancy, and its full potential is hardly being utilized," Zach continued. There is a wide range of application possibilities that could be implemented with a smaller budget, especially for the industry. This is currently being underestimated.

EY: Companies Lack AI Strategy

According to the study, AI is mainly used by larger companies and in the finance and consulting industries, and within companies in the areas of customer service and sales. The use cases are simple or rather simple for almost three quarters (74 percent) of the companies, while only 17 percent of respondents have implemented more complex projects. Many companies lack a concrete AI strategy, according to EY. Only 36 percent of the companies surveyed have already implemented such a strategy, while 58 percent do not have a structured plan.

"Many companies have not defined goals or requirements for AI and do not know what they specifically want to achieve with AI," said Zach. This also makes it difficult to measure a return on investment (ROI) for AI applications. Only 22 percent of companies have clarity about the ROI, and 29 percent are completely clear about the costs of AI.

Trust in AI in Austria still has room for improvement

Trust in AI in Austria also still has room for improvement. Only a third of respondents (34 percent) trust artificial intelligence to find solutions for predictive models or similar tasks. There is more confidence when it comes to research and information, with 51 percent trusting AI for such tasks. Trust in AI requires a good understanding of what AI can and cannot do. "There is clearly still a need for action here. Only if we trust AI can we fully utilize its potential," said Zach.

Companies are also significantly lagging behind in the application of the AI Act. While 77 percent have already heard of the AI Act, only 19 percent have looked into it more closely. Regarding AI Act compliance, which relates to practical processes and aims to ensure that companies' AI systems comply with the AI Act, only one-tenth (9 percent) of the executives surveyed have taken concrete measures.

EY advises companies to familiarize themselves with the new regulations as quickly as possible. "Since February of this year, specific requirements for AI training and a ban on systems with unacceptable risk have already been in place. In addition, several points from the AI Act, such as transparency, risk, and documentation requirements for general-purpose AI models, are to be applied by summer," said Zach. The fact that the proportion of companies that have already dealt with this is still so low could be disastrous for many in the second half of the year.

(APA/Red)

This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.