AI is the top issues of concern for business leaders, according to research by Nash Squared, the parent company of Harvey Nash. The company’s survey revealed that only 15% of global technology leaders feel adequately prepared for the demands of generative AI, and 88% believe stronger regulation of AI is essential.
“Despite the attention around AI, the application and adoption of AI is really in its nascent stage,” said Jason Pyle, president of Harvey Nash U.S. & Canada Market. “What our survey findings reveal is that the technology behind AI is moving faster than the strategies and policies to support it, and tech leaders are finding themselves squeezed in the middle.
“As we look ahead to 2024, we expect tech leaders to focus on a few key areas within AI: developing more guidelines around the use and application of AI, putting safety and privacy front and center and demonstrating its ROI and metrics,” Pyle said.
Concerns about the effective application of AI are significant, with nearly nine in 10 global leaders insisting that stronger regulation of AI is critical. However, 61% of them believe it won’t be effective, a sentiment echoed by 54% of U.S. tech leaders.
Those findings reflect just another challenge facing the tech world: AI skills are currently the top in-demand need in the U.S. The top five needed skills in the U.S. include artificial intelligence, technical architecture, big data/analytics/data engineering, enterprise/solution architecture and project management.
Some 45% percent of U.S. tech leaders believe that skills shortage is preventing them from keeping pace with change. While this represents a decrease of 69% in 2021 and 59% in 2022, Harvey Nash reported that the shortage primarily stems from the slowing market and reduced overall hiring.
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