Persuasive key stats about the AI field overall and the need for AI researchers

We can discuss however long about AI, but obvious and persuasive stats are the most convincing way to comprehend the dynamic of the AI field. We collected some key stats from the recently published report by the McKinsey Global Inst (MGI) and bring to you the bottom line results of the survey.

The hegemons like Google and Baidu are covering most of the field. Globally, MGI estimates tech giants spent from $20 billion to $30 billion on AI in 2016 where 90 percent went to R&D and deployment, and 10 percent on acquisitions. Venture funds invested from $4 billion to $5 billion the same estimated year; private equity firms $1–3 billion. The amount of investment are more than three times as much as in 2013.

An additional $1 billion of investment came from grants and seed funding. As AI is a wide field, the largest share of investments were in machine learning technology.

MGI estimates that AI adoption outside of the tech sector is at an early, often experimental stage. Few firms have deployed it at scale. According to the report, among 3,000 C-level executives who are conscious about AI across 10 countries and 14 sectors, only 20 percent currently use any AI related technology at scale or as an integral part of their businesses. The survey says, based on around 160 use cases, AI technology was deployed commercially in only 12 percent of cases.

The main implementation of AI technology is in retail, electric utilities, manufacturing, healthcare, and education where AI is used to improve forecasting and sourcing, optimize and automate operations, develop targeted marketing and pricing, and enhance the user experience.

The main challenges of AI lies in the need to re-skill the workforce to satisfy the demand in the AI field. For example, as The New York Times reports in reference to Element AI, an independent lab in Montreal, in the entire world less than 10,000 people have the skills necessary to tackle serious artificial intelligence research, including both PhDs and people with less background in academia and only a few years of experience.

Those people could be paid from $300,000 to $500,000 a year or more in salary and company stock. Basically, AI researchers have become an elite group of people like high-profile athletes and Hollywood actors.