5 measures of AI maturity in which healthcare has some growing up to do

Healthcare lags behind other major sectors of the global economy in measures of AI maturity, scoring just 1.3 out of a possible 5 across 15 categories.

That’s well behind the leading sectors—life sciences/pharmaceuticals (4.3), technology (3.8) and food/farming (2.5). Even retail (2.2), transport/mobility (2.0) and built environment/construction (1.9) are ahead of healthcare.

The scores are from a survey of 932 business leaders commissioned by BSI Group, part of the London-based British Standards Institution. The organization heard back from respondents in the U.K., U.S., France, Germany, The Netherlands, China, Japan, India and Australia. The categories included things like AI investment, AI training, and internal/external communications around AI.

A good bit of news for low-scoring healthcare from the BSI analysts who authored the survey report: “There may be upsides to being less mature at this stage of society’s AI shift—relentless optimism could detract from mitigating potential risks.”

Here are excerpts from BSI’s observations on results in five of the 15 scoring categories.

1. Investment.

Small and medium enterprises are having trouble keeping up with larger operations, with 62% of the latter planning major spending in the next five years against 41% for smaller firms.

Money alone will not determine the success of an AI rollout, but it can be seen as a statement of intent.

2. Confidence and appetite within the enterprise.

Leaders in life sciences and technology are most likely to say their business encourages the use of AI (88%), but only 54% of those in healthcare say the same.

Despite this, three quarters (74%) in healthcare say they are confident in the industry’s ability to harness the benefits of AI.  

3. Internal communications and engagement.

Overall, three quarters of organizations (74%) are informing employees about how AI is being used now or will be used in the future. Yet less than a third (32%) are providing a significant volume of information. This is highest in China (93%) and India (90%) and lowest in Japan (53%) and the U.K. (58%).

AI information provision to employees is highest in life sciences (83%) and technology (83%) and lowest in healthcare (48%).

4. Trust in AI.

Nearly 80% of respondents say they have greater trust in AI than a year ago, although there is a divide here: A quarter (24%) in the U.K. and 21% in France disagree.

Trust is also low among those working in healthcare and transportation.

5. Training.

Some 87% of the leaders surveyed felt businesses have a responsibility to train teams on AI tools in order to protect jobs. Yet there was a sizeable gap between expectation and reality.

While three quarters of businesses leaders globally (76%) said they were aware of their company offering training for employees in how to use AI tools safely and ethically, only two-fifths said their organizations had a specific learning and development program to ensure successful delivery of AI training.

Another point to ponder: “While 80% of leaders say they are more excited about the potential use of AI by business than a year ago,” the BSI authors note, “more than half (52%) also say they are more worried about this today, reflecting the complex relationship societies have with AI.”

Full report here (PDF).