As the artificial intelligence (AI) wave detonates the world this year, AI has become the primary investment focus of business leaders. A new KPMG survey of 400 U.S. CEOs shows that more than two-thirds list investing in generative AI as a top priority for their companies.
"This is not hype," said KPMG U.S. Chairman Paul Knopp. "This is going to be disruptive, and CEOs are paying close attention."
The AI craze triggered by ChatGPT released by OpenAI at the end of last year quickly swept the American corporate world. In the last week alone, Amazon announced a $4 billion investment in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic; Meta has begun rolling out new generative AI tools for advertisers, and Zoom has launched AI products to compete with tech giants Microsoft and Google.
Goldman Sachs predicts that investment in artificial intelligence will accelerate rapidly, and global investment in artificial intelligence will reach approximately US$200 billion by 2025. In the long term, Goldman Sachs believes that investment in artificial intelligence will reach up to 4% of U.S. GDP.
Jefferies senior analyst Brent Thill said in a recent interview that as corporate spending shifts to artificial intelligence, he believes Microsoft, Amazon and Google will be the winners, although he warned that this is far from a "zero-sum game."
While the excitement about AI is palpable and businesses are making it a priority, it may take some time for these investments to pay off.
The KPMG survey found that 62% of CEOs expect to see a return on their AI investments within three to five years, while 23% expect a return within one to three years.
“AI investing is still in its infancy, and today’s investments are largely centered around ideas,” Knopp added. “We’re going to see more and more generative AI use cases across many different industries. It’s going to be disruptive, and you can see that in our survey of CEOs.”