Retail and banking leading cognitive and AI systems growth

Retail and banking are driving demand for cognitive and artificial intelligence according to new figures from IDC, which also show Asia Pacific is expected to be the second largest spender on the technologies by 2021. IDC says many industries are'aggressively' investing in cognitive and AI solutions, with the technologies proliferating across all industries, resulting in significant growth opportunities. The analyst firm's Worldwide Semiannual Cognitive Artifical Intelligence Systems Spending Guide shows worldwide spending is forecast to hit US$12.0 billion this year – up 59.1% on 2016 spend. Come 2021, IDC is forecasting spend to reach US$57.6 billion. Retail and banking will account for $1.74 billion and $1.72 billion of 2017's spend, with discrete manufacturing, healthcare and process manufacturing also expected to crack the $1 billion spend this year.