FICO, a global analytics software firm released a report this week along with the market intelligence firm Corinium that found that the demand for artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and digital tools is at an all-time high as the global pandemic disrupts economies. 

The report - Building AI-Driven Enterprises in a Disrupted Environment - features results from a survey of more than 100 top-tiered analytic and data executives and conducted in-depth interviews to understand the evolution of AI-based capacity and capabilities in organisations. The research found that due to the uncertain environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic as organisations become more steadfast about their AI commitments and have adopted disciplined approaches to transform into AI-driven enterprises. The survey reveals that 57 per cent chief data and analytics officers said that due to COVID-19, the demand for AI, digital products and tools has increased. 

The AI capabilities are being used and built to create a more resilient future that would be able to mitigate risks and disruptions such as the pandemic, in future. The report revealed a few more key findings:

Sixty-three per cent of data-driven enterprises have made investments in AI as one of their top priorities and have already started increasing their AI capacity. However, ethical considerations is the top challenge that 93 per cent enterprise chief data and chief analytics officers face in their plans. The other challenges are finding team-mates with relevant skills (66 per cent), integration of legacy systems with new technology (62 per cent) and regulatory and compliance risks (60 per cent). 

Business areas that are pushing for greater AI responsibilities are the Board of Directors (60 per cent), data, analytics and AI (53 per cent) and legal or compliance (52 per cent). 

While ethical and responsible AI remains one of the main challenges in the organisations, the chief data and analytics officers are facing the task head-on. More than 50 per cent of the respondents have mentioned that they have placed strong model governance and management rules to support ethical AI usage.