Ken Krogue, In Forbes Magazine: Artificial Intelligence Is Here To Stay
AI is here to stay and it’s not just changing the market, it’s shaping the way we live and work. In the sales industry, the growing sophistication and accuracy of predictive analytics is creating significant advances. However, inbound marketing and sales (along with many other functions and sectors) must continue to advance their use of AI in ways that they can build consumer trust.
State of Artificial Intelligence 2017
The Labs Team at XANT completed their newest study on the State of Artificial Intelligence. It’s an interesting read, that shows that interest and investments in this type of technology is continually growing. I wrote about the study results in Forbes Magazine and I believe this research shows the fantastic potential that AI has to improve our professional lives.
In 2016, the AI market was worth $644 million. The market value of AI is expected to double in 2017 and continue to grow exponentially until it reaches $38.6 billion in less than 10 years.
While consumers use AI daily in their private life, for entertainment or other functions, professional use is still lagging behind. And it seems to be a matter of consumer trust.
We asked just under 2,000 people (1,985 respondents) from a variety of backgrounds and locations within the U.S. to give us their perceptions of this disruptive technology (AI).
The study shows that even as AI continue to become more widespread, consumers continue to feel trepidation around the technology.
41 Percent Do Not Trust AI
When presented with a list of popular AI services, 41.5 percent of respondents could not cite a single example of AI that they trust.
- As with many technological advancements, acceptance is growing most quickly on the East and West Coasts;
- In New England, only 36.6 percent of consumers reported a lack of trust for AI;
- Only 38.0 percent of West Coast respondents report lack of trust;
Nearly half (49.2 percent) of consumers in the Middle Atlantic region (NY, PA, NJ) report a lack of trust in AI.
Respondents in this area are especially wary of its use in industries that have historically required a human touch (such as financial planning, hiring or medical diagnosis). Only nine percent of respondents trust AI with their financials, and only four percent trust AI in the HR hiring process.
How to Build Consumer Trust for AI
So what do these results mean? For vendors whose offerings are centralized on AI implementation, you have your work cut out for you to demonstrate safety and reliability and to generate trust. For industries that are indirectly impacted by AI (especially sales), the message should be clear: always be respectful of privacy.
Artificial Intelligence can bring fantastic results to sales teams, both in revenue as well as productivity.
We must continue, as sales professionals, to use AI for the benefit of our customers, in way that they will consider useful and welcome, as opposed to invasive or “creepy.”
You can find the executive summary of the “State of AI 2017” study here.
