Global AI Adoption Soars, but Developed Nations and Gender Gaps Pose Challenges

According to a new Google-Ipsos report, AI adoption all over the world has been increasing but there are a lot of challenges too. In emerging markets, AI is seeing a rise in its adoption but gender disparities, regional divides and slower adoption in developed countries cannot be overlooked as well. Analysts say that Google hasn't talked about these challenges in its report. Even though AI is growing, its adoption is as much in developed countries because of trust in the technology. Google report shows that 48% of the people all over the world have used generative AI last year and countries like Mexico, Nigeria and South Africa were leading in AI adoption. On the other hand, developed countries like Canada and the US are seeing less AI adoption, with only 29% of people using generative AI last year. The remaining 71% of the people in the developed regions of the world haven't used AI knowingly.

The report also found that more people are excited about AI adoption (57%) than people who are concerned about it (43%). In the prior year, the excitement and concerns about AI were evenly split. When people were asked why they are excited about AI adoption, they reasoned that AI can be a lot helpful in science (72%) and medicine (71%). Globally, 59% of the people are optimistic about AI adoption but this trend is lower in the US (52%).

There is also a gender gap in AI usage among men and women. Most of the AI users globally are men (55%), as compared to women (45%). This gender disparity is even higher in workplaces which have adopted AI, with only 41% of women being professional AI users. The report also talked about the role and adoption of AI in emerging markets. People in regions like South Africa and Nigeria are more optimistic that AI will positively affect the economies of their countries, but developed countries do not seem too optimistic about it. Emerging markets are being more enthusiastic about AI, as compared to only 53% of the Americans who think that AI will help with innovations.

People are also more appreciative of non-generative AI tools than generative AI, like AI for flood forecast, healthcare, fraud detection and other practical usage. On the other hand, generative AI is getting mixed reviews from the public. 74% of the workers all over the world are using AI professionally for a number of tasks like brainstorming, writing and problem-solving tasks. 68% of the workers between the ages of 50-74 are also using AI at work, with 67% of blue-collar workers also using AI. Overall, trust in AI is growing with 61% of the people confident that governments can regulate AI usage, which is a 4% increase in 2023. 72% of the people are also supporting collaborations between government and companies to manage AI risks.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World