About one in eight companies use artificial intelligence

Press Release No. 453 dated November 27, 2023

• Large companies use AI more often than small and medium-sized companies
• Artificial intelligence technology is often used in the financial control and management of companies
• The most common reason for not using AI is lack of knowledge, and ethical considerations are only a reason for not using AI in one in five cases.

WIESBADEN – About one in eight companies (12%) in Germany – which include legal entities with at least ten employees – uses artificial intelligence. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) based on the 2023 results, large companies with 250 or more employees use AI technology more often than small and medium-sized companies. One in three large companies (35%) are using AI, but only one in six (16%) are medium-sized companies with 50 to 249 employees and one in ten (10%) are small companies with 10 to 49 employees.

Companies that use AI primarily use these technologies for accounting, control, or financial management (25% of companies), IT security (24%), production or service operations (22%), and to organize or manage company management processes (20% ). ).

These companies most often use AI technologies for speech recognition (43%), to automate workflows or to assist in decision making (32%), and written language analysis or text mining technologies (30%).

Lack of knowledge is the most common reason for not using AI

Among companies that have not yet used AI technologies, only 10% have actually considered using them. When asked about reasons for non-use, these companies cited: lack of knowledge (72%), incompatibility with existing inventory of hardware, software and systems (54%), difficulties with data availability or quality (53%), lack of clarity about legal implications ( 51%), concerns about maintaining data protection and privacy (48%), costs (41%) and ethical considerations (22%). 22% of these companies do not consider the use of artificial intelligence in their companies useful.

Methodological notes:

The results come from an annual survey on the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in companies. Corporations are defined here as the smallest legally independent and economically active units that keep books and determine profits. The survey was conducted with financial support from the European Union. When answering questions related to the use of artificial intelligence techniques and reasons for not using them, multiple answers were possible.

additional information:

Detailed results of the survey on the use of ICT in companies are available in the GENESIS database.Connected (Tables 52911) available.