AI in use at 98% of firms in Southeast, study says
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tech giants like Google and Microsoft may be racing to develop artificial intelligence, but a new survey shows AI tools are ubiquitous in the Southeast and not just Silicon Valley.
A full 98% of companies in the region said they use AI in some aspect of their business in a new report on tech trends from TenHats, a leading East Tennessee IT provider headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee.
TenHats surveyed 1,094 executives, IT professionals and non-technical employees from companies that primarily do business in the Southeast with a focus on Knoxville and East Tennessee. Businesses in the survey ranged from $1 million to over $500 million in annual revenue.
AI tools help businesses analyze large amounts of data, take notes during meetings, write technical documents and process online orders. You may have used an AI tool without even realizing it.
They don’t all create text or images, like OpenAI’s suite of generative tools, but they save companies time and money by performing complicated tasks that require intelligence.
Here’s how companies in the Southeast feel about AI, including their fears over how rapidly the tools are progressing.
47% of respondents said AI tools were “technologies that imitate human intelligence at greater scale and speed.”
29% of respondents said AI tools were “solutions that automate mundane, data-heavy tasks.”
10% of respondents said “AI is just a buzzword or over-hyped, not referring to a particular technology.”
98% of respondents report using AI in some aspect of their business.
76% of respondents say AI will be a notable component of their companies in 2024.
33% of companies that sell directly to customers said they use AI for content creation.
31% of respondents said they use AI for cybersecurity.
41% said the biggest concern is AI-generated misinformation.
25% said the biggest concern is their own lack of technical ability.
15% said the biggest concern is lack of transparency in AI content and decision-making.
Small businesses – those will less than $10 million annual revenue – were 20% more likely to express concern about their lack of ability to use AI effectively and 40% more likely to express concern about privacy threats from AI. Nearly a quarter of small businesses said AI could have a negative impact on their workforce.
Perhaps the biggest question for AI in 2024 is how it might be regulated by the government, the subject of a new Congressional task force. Southeast companies mostly said AI should be regulated.
83% said yes.
10% said no.
7% said they were unsure.