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Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently a technology still percolating in the depths of IT departments and the fever dreams of industry pundits, but it may only be a matter of a couple of years that it bursts across many day-to-day business processes. That is one of the key takeaways from a recent survey of 835 executives from Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). The survey shows 84% see the use of AI as "essential" to competitiveness, and half see the technology as "transformative." But for now, it's still only in widespread use among a handful of practitioners -- eight percent of executives use AI mainly as a workhorse for IT departments, mainly to detect security intrusions, user issues and deliver automation. Looking into the near future, everyone expects a lot out of AI.