Despite U.S. efforts to curb China’s tech advancements amid the global artificial intelligence race, organizations in China are leading the U.S. and other countries in using generative AI technology, according to a new study.
Business leaders in China reported 83% of their organizations are using generative AI in a global study commissioned by analytics software company SAS with Coleman Parkes Research. Meanwhile, business leaders in the U.K. reported 70% of their organizations are using generative AI, and U.S. leaders reported 65%.
China’s lead is due to continuous automated monitoring, according to the study, which mostly means making sure the organization is working properly, Bryan Harris, chief technology officer at SAS, told Quartz.
The country’s investment in manufacturing technology “allows them to integrate continuous automated monitoring systems to monitor and optimize production,” Udo Sglavo, vice president of applied AI and modeling research and development at SAS, said in a statement shared with Quartz. “Predictive maintenance and worker safety systems are good examples of places where continuous automated monitoring would be incorporated. With the help of GenAI technologies, systems like these detect anomalies, help build natural language interfaces, and create automated alerts and notifications so users can respond appropriately.”
Meanwhile, organizations in the U.S. lead the rest of the world when it comes to “maturity and having fully implemented GenAI technologies,” the study, which included 1,600 business decision-makers in industries including banking, healthcare, and retail, said.
“While China may lead in GenAI adoption rates, higher adoption doesn’t necessarily equate to effective implementation or better returns,” Stephen Saw, managing director at Coleman Parkes, said in a statement. “In fact, the U.S. nudges ahead in the race with 24% of organizations having fully implemented GenAI compared to 19% in China.” The U.K., meanwhile, came in at 11%. Most organizations involved in the study are using generative AI for content creation, such as for marketing, and for customer service, Harris said.
Harris says he’s not surprised that China’s adoption rate of generative AI is higher, because the country’s government is “much more efficient” with issuing directives, and that includes telling organizations to use AI. Meanwhile, the U.S. is “a little more measured in our approach to generative AI,” Harris said. He added that it’s important that the U.S. “be more novel, more innovative, and more compliant to regulatory oversight so that when we develop this stuff, it has the intended outcomes for what we want in business,” as well as the people and populations AI will impact.
Over the next year, Harris said he sees “more narrowing” with the use of AI as organizations determine where generative AI is delivering real value to the business.