• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, August 10, 2023

Email marketers, take note: Your company is probably going to increase its spending on generative AI. But your technology and finance departments are slightly more likely to benefit than the marketing group, judging by The State of Generative AI in Global Business, a study by Lucidworks. 

In general, 93% of firms across the globe plan to increase their investments in AI over the next 12 months, but the U.S. is lagging behind China and several other nations, with 92% expecting to do so. A full 100% of Chinese companies and 98% of Indian firms are budgeting more.  

The U.S. is also outstepped in AI spending hikes by Australia (96%), France (95%), and the U.K. (94%). However, only 80% of Japanese companies plan increases.  

As reported by AI executives involved in the AI decision process, these functions will be seeing increases:  

• Technology or Data Science — 96% 
• Finance or Accounting — 94% 
• Research or Product Development — 93% 
• Marketing or Merchandising — 92%
• Transportation or Logistics — 91% 
• Sales or Service — 89% 
• Operations or Supply Chain — 88%
• Human Resources — 88% 
• Legal or Other Admin. — 86%

Whatever the function, there is work to be done, as few firms are at the stage of advanced development. The study places companies into one of four categories:

• Trailblazers — 10% 
• Leaders — 14%
• Challengers — 60% 
• Rookies — 16% 

Challengers and Rookies lag in launching AI initiatives, the study states. 

Firms are focusing on three areas in their AI implementation and best practices: 

• Governance 
• Cost Reduction 
• OPEX, Serving customer Growth 

The technology business leads the way in generating AI best practices. Here is the average number by industry:

• Technology — 10.7 
• Retail — 7.7
• Food and Beverage — 7.2 
• Energy — 7.2
• Entertainment and Media — 6.9 
• Consumer Products — 6.8
• Manufacturing — 6.8
• Financial Services — 6.6 
• Construction/Real Estate — 6.3

These industries are planning increases in AI spending: 

• Entertainment and media — 96% 
• Consumer products — 96% 
• Technology — 96% 
• Construction and Real Estate — 95%
• Transportation — 94% 
• Financial Services — 94%
• Manufacturing — 93% 
• Professional Services — 93%
• Energy — 92% 
• Retail — 92%
• Education — 89% 
• Food and Beverage — 88%
• Healthcare — 88% 
• Hospitality and Tourism — 86%

Lucidworks surveyed 6,000 respondents from companies with 100 or more employees across 14 industries and nine functional departments worldwide.