Cognitive/AI Biz Spending To See Strong Growth

Spending on cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI) systems is expected to see continued strong growth as businesses invest in projects in those areas.

According to market research firm International Data Corp.’s Semiannual Cognitive Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Guide, spending on cognitive and AI systems will reach $77.6 billion in 2022, more than three times the $24.0 billion forecast for this year. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2017-2022 forecast period is 37.3 percent, according to the research firm. IDC expects spending on cognitive and AI systems to reach $77.6 billion in 2022.

“The market for AI continues to grow at a rapid pace,” said David Schubmehl, research director for cognitive/artificial intelligence systems at IDC, in a press release announcing the research. “Vendors looking to take advantage of AI, deep learning and machine learning need to move quickly to gain a foothold in this emergent market. IDC is already seeing that organizations using these technologies to drive innovation are benefitting in terms of revenue, profit and overall leadership in their respective industries and segments.”

According to IDC, software will be the largest and fastest-growing category through the forecast period, accounting for around 40 percent of all cognitive and AI spending. Two areas of focus for the investments include conversational AI applications and deep learning and machine learning applications. Hardware will be the second biggest spending category until late in the forecast period, when IT support and business services will surpass it, predicted IDC.

The market research firm noted the cognitive/AI use cases that will see the largest spending totals in 2018 are automated customer service agents, automated threat intelligence and prevention systems, sales process recommendation and automation, and automated preventive maintenance. The use cases that will see the fastest investment growth over the 2017-2022 forecast are pharmaceutical research and discovery, expert shopping advisors and product recommendations, digital assistants for enterprise workers and intelligent processing automation (43.6 percent CAGR).

“Worldwide cognitive/artificial intelligence systems spend has moved beyond the early adopters to mainstream, industry-wide use case implementation,” said Marianne Daquila, research manager for customer insights and analysis at IDC, in the same press release. “Early adopters in banking, retail and manufacturing have successfully leveraged cognitive/AI systems as part of their digital transformation strategies. These strategies have helped companies personalize their relationships with customers, thwart fraudulent losses and keep factories running. Increasingly, we are seeing more local governments keeping people safe with cognitive/AI systems. There is no doubt that the predicted double-digit, year-over-year growth will be driven by even more decision makers, across all industries, who do not want to be left behind.”