Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most transformative technology businesses have access to today. While most companies are waking up to the enormous potential of AI, most of them are also facing significant barriers to successful adoption. Here we explore the key ones.

1. The 4 Biggest Barriers To
AI Adoption Every Business
Needs To Tackle

2. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
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IntroductionIntroduction
Research shows that AI adoption across industry is speeding up – with one report finding
that, of over 2,000 organizations surveyed, 47% had implemented it in at least one function,
compared to 20% during the previous year.
On top of that, 71% of respondents expected AI investment to increase over the coming
year. However, the fact remains that there are still significant challenges to companies
wishing to adopt smart, cognitive computing processes into their operations. This is borne
out by the fact that in the McKinsey survey, just 21% of respondents claimed they had rolled
out AI in more than one process.
The 4 Biggest Barriers To AI Adoption Every
Business Needs To Tackle

3. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Title
Text
IntroductionIntroduction
My work brings me into contact with organizations at every stage of their digital
transformation and AI adoption process. This gives me insights not only into what is
working but why barriers or challenges are discouraging adoption. Here's a rundown of
some of the most frequently encountered blockers – as well as ideas being put in place to
overcome them.
The 4 Biggest Barriers To AI Adoption Every
Business Needs To Tackle

4. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Cultural Barriers
Put simply; this is all about resistance to change. Human beings, it is often noted, tend to
be creatures of habit; once we find a method of carrying out a task that seems to get the
job done effectively and efficiently, we like to stick with it. It often takes some persuasion
before we will see that the disruption and expense that will inevitably be caused by
altering procedures or adopting new processes will be worth the overall gains they will
bring.
This could be as simple as a disinclination towards what can be seen as “handing over
control” – whether that’s directly to machines, or to the human employees who administer
the technological infrastructure that makes AI possible.
Often this translates into simply not seeing the need for AI, and an incomplete
understanding of the advantages it can offer. And in my experience education is usually
the most effective means of overcoming this particular barrier. I spend a lot of my time
working with boards and senior leaders to instill an awareness of how the core AI
technologies – from natural language processing to computer vision and predictive
maintenance – can create efficiencies and reduce costs. Once awareness levels are raised,
people are likely to become receptive and engaged with the potential for positive change
AI offer.

5. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Fear
Another completely natural and understandable human response. Fear of the unknown, as
horror writer HP Lovecraft liked to point out, is the “oldest and strongest emotion of
mankind.”
And as visionaries including Elon Musk and Stephen Hawkin have pointed out in more
recent years, there is a huge amount that is still unknown when it comes to the part AI will
have to play in our future.
In an immediate sense, this fear could revolve around a growth in distance between the
human workforce and the job they are paid to carry out – decisions made by computer
algorithm can be difficult to predict and understand.
This leads to a fear that humans are losing control and may possibly no longer be
regarded as the “experts” in their field of work.

6. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Fear
The middle-term fear is of increasing human redundancy – if machines can carry out the
work more efficiently and effectively, where’s the need for humans?
Futurologists have predicted that this could go two ways – either leading to a utopian
existence where robots fill all our basic needs and humans are free to pursue leisure,
intellectual and artistic endeavours, or towards mass unemployment and social unrest.
I believe that instead there is an attractive middle ground (as there is so often), where the
solution is to roll out intelligent tech to augment our work and make it better for humans,
rather than replace them.

7. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Shortage of Talent
This is a real and pressing problem for most businesses wanting to adopt AI as well as
move to other data-driven models of digital transformation. Experts predict that when it
comes to capitalizing on the enormous potential for growth offered by AI, a bottleneck
exists due to the shortage of data and technology professionals with the experience and
training needed to implement the required infrastructure and organizational change.
Although AI research has been ongoing for decades, it's only relatively recently that these
skills have been in demand by industry. And the massive growth in demand means that
those with the abilities are able to ask for very high salaries and prestigious positions
within the organizations that employ them. On top of this, those companies that already
understand and heavily invest in AI – the Googles, Facebooks, and Baidu's of the world –
are often seen as offering the prime opportunities by those who do have the skillset,
meaning other businesses face an uphill battle competing to attract talent.

8. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Shortage of Talent
However, this is likely to be a challenge that will be overcome, eventually, by the old-
school economic principles of supply and demand. With data scientist increasingly cited as
one of the most exciting (and lucrative) career options in coming years, the pool of talent
is sure to grow. Other solutions proving successful include upskilling existing workforces.
With the number of AI solutions available "as-a-service" also growing, there will be less
need for a workforce that is fully trained in traditional data science, in order to deploy and
operate AI solutions to many business problems.

9. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Lack Of A Strategic Approach To
AI Adoption
In some ways, this is an amalgamation of several other barriers – lack of talent, lack of
management buy-in, and a culture insufficiently immersed in the advantages and
practicalities of AI and digital transformation.
The result is often AI initiatives that aren’t planned at a strategic level, fail to address
strategic business objectives and don’t fit within an organization’s overall plans for growth
and business development.
Often the cause here is that, while businesses are broadly aware of the importance of
adopting AI technology, and the advantages it can offer, they fail to approach it from a
strategic standpoint; this means fully understanding the aims and objectives of all aspects
of AI operations, from data gathering to how the insights uncovered are communicated
across the workforce and put to work.
The answer to this one is pretty straightforward – organizations must always ensure that a
clear strategy is in place before time and money are spent on rolling out expensive and
resource-intensive AI initiatives and pilots with no clear understanding of the benefits they
can bring.

10. © 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Lack Of A Strategic Approach To
AI Adoption
This is another area where I spend a lot of my time, helping companies ensure their AI
initiatives are clearly linked to business performance objectives, prioritized by their
strategic goals, and where every stakeholder has a clear understanding of what the
success – or failure – of an initiative will look like.

11. © 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website
© 2017 Bernard Marr , Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
© 2018 Bernard Marr, Bernard Marr & Co. All rights reserved
Bernard Marr is an internationally best-selling author, popular keynote speaker, futurist, and a
strategic business & technology advisor to governments and companies. He helps
organisations improve their business performance, use data more intelligently, and
understand the implications of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data,
blockchains, and the Internet of Things.
LinkedIn has ranked Bernard as one of the world’s top 5 business influencers. He is a frequent
contributor to the World Economic Forum and writes a regular column for Forbes. Every day
Bernard actively engages his 1.5 million social media followers and shares content that
reaches millions of readers.
Visit The
Website

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