Manufacturers deploying Generative AI at slower pace

In 2023, 93 per cent of manufacturing leaders planned to increase spending on artificial intelligence

Manufacturers are deploying planned Generative AI initiatives at a slower-than-expected pace on concerns around accuracy, Lucidworks said in a study on Wednesday.

The study surveyed more than 2,500 leaders globally involved in AI technology decision-making and found that 58 per cent of manufacturing leaders plan to increase spending on artificial intelligence in 2024. This is lower than the global consensus of 63 per cent and U.S. consensus of 69 per cent.

In 2023, 93 per cent of manufacturing leaders planned to increase spending on artificial intelligence.

According to last week’s PitchBook data, there was a quarterly jump in U.S. VC funding, largely driven by significant investments in AI firms.

Investors are betting on startups with the hope that revenue from AI adoption will yield significant returns. Around 50 per cent of manufacturers globally reported increased cost savings this year after adopting AI initiatives, as per Lucidworks’ study.

While many manufacturers see the potential benefits of generative AI, challenges like response accuracy and cost are causing them to take a more cautious approach, according to Mike Sinoway, CEO of Lucidworks.

Generative AI processes inputs or prompts to produce new content based on past data used to train it. However, it sometimes generates inaccurate or nonsensical outputs known as hallucinations.

While 36 per cent of all respondents expressed concerns about response accuracy due to hallucinations, a higher number manufacturing respondents, 44 per cent, share this concern.

Despite only 20 per cent planned artificial intelligence projects being implemented by manufacturers in the past year, 55 per cent of them feel that they are on par with their peers in AI adoption.