Report predicts AI spending to reach almost $98bn by 2023

Market intelligence International Data Corporation (IDC) has updated its Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Systems Spending Guide, predicting that AI spending will reach $97.9bn by 2023.

That represents 261% of the $37.5 billion that IDC says will be spent in 2019. Driving the growth are the retail and banking industries, with the former focusing investment on automated customer service and product recommendation and the latter investing in AI-based security and fraud prevention.

David Schubmehl, research director, Cognitive/Artificial Intelligence Systems at IDC, said: "The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning (ML) is occurring in a wide range of solutions and applications from ERP and manufacturing software to content management, collaboration, and user productivity. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are top of mind for most organizations today, and IDC expects that AI will be the disrupting influence changing entire industries over the next decade."

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The United States is expected to contribute 50% of the total in the years leading up to 2023, With Western Europe and China being the next largest contributors. Confidence in the sector seems to be riding high, with the US-based Scale AI recently becoming a unicorn and SoftBank explicitly focusing its second Vision Fund on AI.

Rob Dalgety, Industry Specialist at software developer Peltarion, said that AI was not without its challenges, however, commenting that “the current reality of AI is far from the promise it holds. Outside of the industry giants and tech pioneers with their deep pockets and unlimited resources, most organisations today struggle to deploy AI at any scale. They are stuck on the starting blocks, held back from lack of appropriate software tools and scarce talent.

“We must be looking at how to overcome these impediments. By looking at ways to operationalise AI – particularly as IDC finds AI software and platforms are on the rise – so that solutions can be developed in a more secure, scalable, repeatable and cost effective way, organisations can remove current barriers to success and start to reap the benefits.”