Pioneering companies use AI to drive profit

The results of this year's McKinsey global survey, The state of AI in 2020, suggests that organisations are using artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for generating value. This year's survey found that a small contingent of respondents coming from a variety of industries attribute 20% or more of their organisations' earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to AI. McKinsey reported that these companies plan to invest even more in AI in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which suggests that there will be a wider gap between organisations leading in the deployment of AI and the majority of companies that are struggling to capitalise on the technology. The survey found that the largest shares of respondents report revenue increases for inventory and parts optimisation, pricing and promotion, customer-service analytics, and sales and demand forecasting. According to McKinsey, the areas of AI deployment that most commonly led to cost decreases are optimisation of talent management, contact centre automation and warehouse automation. Over half of respondents who deployed AI in these areas said they had reduced costs.