CIOs are getting serious about machine learning sooner, not later

Most of the discussions around artificial intelligence, machine learning and intelligent automation tends to occur under the conceit that the changes anticipated by their adoption lie off a few years away as part of some future scenario that we really don't have to worry about just yet. The latest evidence that this is not true came this week from ServiceNow, the cloud software company that specializes in helping companies get simple things done. The company surveyed CIOs in 25 industries across 11 countries for its Global CIO Point of View and found that about half of them are already using some form of machine learning and another 40 percent have plans on the board to adopt it. That adds up to a total of 89 percent of CIOs who have already adopted machine learning or who say they're going to. I talked about the survey with Dave Wright, ServiceNow's chief strategy officer, and Chris Bedi, its CIO, who told me that among their customers, the talking phase is over, and the doing phase is underway.