First annual study finds that AI investment is strong across mid-to-large US organizations, 40% have reached high levels of AI maturity, and quality training data is a key component
LXT, an emerging leader in global AI training data, announced the findings of its first annual executive survey, The Path to AI Maturity. The new report highlights that investment in artificial intelligence is strong at mid-to-large US organizations, and that 40% rate themselves at the three highest levels of AI maturity, having already achieved operational to transformative implementations. A key component to success across all organizations is AI training data, in terms of both quality and investment.
“The strategic importance of artificial intelligence continues to grow and companies are starting to see transformative business benefits – which is leading to the levels of investment revealed in the research findings,” commented Mohammad Omar, LXT co-founder and CEO. “We are seeing more and more companies reach a stage where AI is in production or has even become a part of their business DNA. And a critical contributor to success is quality training data.”
LXT, in partnership with research firm Reputation Leaders, commissioned a survey of 200 senior executives (two-thirds C-suite) with AI experience at mid-to-large US organizations (with annual revenue of over $100 million and more than 500 employees) that details the impact that AI investment and training data is having across organizations of all revenue levels and industries.
“An increasing number of organizations are reaching AI maturity, and if your goal is to make AI a part of your company’s DNA, quality training data needs to be part of your strategy,” said Phil Hall, LXT Chief Growth Officer. “As this survey shows, it’s of the utmost importance to pick the right third-party partner and consistently budget for training data as part of a holistic AI program.”
AI investment continues, and more than 40% of organizations have reached maturity
The survey found that over a third of high revenue companies are spending between $51-100 million on AI and seven in ten organizations are spending $1 million or more of their budget on AI. Enterprises are using AI to innovate, scale up and drive competitive advantage as well as gain internal efficiencies.
As part of the survey, executives placed their companies on the Gartner AI Maturity Model. According to the results, more than 40% of organizations have reached high levels of maturity, from Operational (AI in production, creating value) to Transformational (AI is part of business DNA) status. To get there, a quarter of maturing organizations are spending $51 million or more on AI, compared to just 8% of experimenters.
AI training data is a key to success, and delivers strong ROI
Mature organizations say that quality training data is the most important contributor to the success of their AI strategies. Four in 10 organizations allocate a high proportion (70%+) of AI budget to training data. On average, over half of the total AI budget for the companies surveyed is dedicated to training data.
Quality AI training data creates more successful models and due to the success that AI mature companies are seeing, two-thirds of all organizations expect their need for training data to increase over the next five years. Larger and AI mature organizations are more likely to increase their training data budgets, even if their current data budgets are on the lower end.
Organizations across the spectrum are seeing strong return on investment (ROI) for quality AI training data in four key areas, including operational efficiency, cost and error reduction, and improved reputation. More mature organizations focus on efficiency gains, whereas nascent AI organizations are more intent on improving cost and lowering error rates.
Organizations rely on third-party vendors for AI training data
All organizations (99%) use third-party vendors to source AI training data, and the decision is driven by trust, reach and partnership, not cost. The main criteria for choosing third party vendors include reliability, global capabilities and strong partnership ability.
Financial services industry leads in AI maturity
In addition, the executives surveyed reported differing approaches, investment levels and results based on their relative AI budget and maturity level, as well as by specific industry. For example, organizations in the financial services industry are ahead in their AI journey, followed by tech.
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