Over 81% of business leaders want ‘global’ regulations and standards for AI: TCS Report

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More than 81 percent of senior business leaders in a survey have asked for a more ‘global’ set of regulations and standards on artificial intelligence as enterprises increasingly try to balance security risks and opportunities in their AI strategy.

The Global AI Study by Tata Consultancy Services also showed that over 86 percent of the senior business leaders have already deployed AI to enhance revenue streams or create new ones.

The survey sample covered over 1,300 CEOs and other senior leaders across 12 industries and 24 countries. About half the companies had $1 billion to $5 billion in annual revenue and the other half had over $5 billion in revenue.

“Right now, most organisations use AI to assist humans. As it matures, we will increasingly see AI used to augment human activities and ultimately, transform businesses by elevating human thinking with the ability to ideate based on machine output," said K Krithivasan, CEO and MD of TCS. "According to the study, most executives think human creativity, or their strategic thinking will be an essential competitive differentiator in the next three to five years.”

AI.Cloud business

The study shows that the majority of senior executives are optimistic about AI’s potential impact on their business and 94 percent have active plans or have deployed it already in their business – showcasing the fast penetration of this technology wave, he added.

The study marks the IT services giant’s focus on expanding business through its new unit AI.Cloud in a rather tough business environment – aligning with its idea of becoming an AI-first company.

During the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference in April, Krithivasan said that its AI and generative AI deal pipeline had doubled in the quarter to $900 million with over 200 engagements.

TCS started a separate AI.Cloud business unit led by Sivaraman Ganesan in July 2023 during an organisational restructuring under new CEO Krithivasan, emphasising the importance of the emerging technology in the future strategy of the company.

The unit drives TCS’ multi-layered architecture to help strategize AI deployment for customers across their value chains, enable deployment and govern thereafter.

“2023 was a year of exuberance, with every enterprise experimenting with AI/GenAI use cases," said Harrick Vin, chief technology officer at TCS. "We are now entering an era of wide and deep enterprise AI adoption. Enterprises, however, are realising that the path to production for AI solutions is not easy, and that building an AI-mature enterprise is a marathon, not a sprint.”

The AI study has confirmed this sentiment, he added. It has also highlighted that enterprises feel underprepared to deploy AI solutions at scale as well as manage the profound shifts in the roles of people and ways of working resulting from such deployments.

Despite the optimism around AI, very few companies are fully leveraging AI as a transformative factor for their business, the report said. According to the report, only 4 percent of the total surveyed have leveraged AI to an extent that it differentiates and transforms their business operations.

About 24 percent of the respondents haven’t moved beyond the initial exploratory phase and 15 percent said their employees and operations are using AI to deliver higher value than they could without AI.

TCS hasn't defined global regulations in the report. There are no common global regulations yet on AI.