AI Race: APAC is the Region to Watch
The race is not about which AI is the smartest but rather about who uses it to benefit society.
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APAC is leading the GenAI race, with China and India vying for first place while the EU lags far behind.
BCG just published this fantastic study showing how APAC companies are beating North America and the EU in the percentage of revenue spent on GenAI and the percentage of full-time employees involved in GenAI work.
This study shows once more that the AI race, if you believe in such a thing, will not be won by the nation with the best or smartest AI but by the nation that puts it to work to benefit society.
To reinforce APAC’s GenAI commitment, more than 90% of companies are planning to scale up GenAI over two years, focusing on managing costs and raising revenues.
That India and China are the leaders in APAC shouldn’t come as a surprise and while China has a slight lead the reality is that users in both regions have a user base that is actively using GenAI. China has 45% of its consumers using GenAI, while India comes in at 50%.
China and India also have government-sponsored digital programs to support GenAI initiatives with India’s “Digital India” and China’s “Next Gen AI Development Plan.”
The reality is that both of these technically sophisticated nations see GenAI as a tool to bring their population more and better services through GenAI-enhanced digital channels.
On a more serious note, the report's scariest statistic was for the EU, not APAC.
Consider this: EU companies spent roughly half of the percent of revenue and had roughly half of the full-time employees focusing on GenAI compared to APAC.
👉Highlights
🔹 Percent of annual revenue invested in digital and GenAI: APAC 7.6%, North America 7.1%, EU 4.3%.
🔹 Percentage of full-time employees involved in digital and GenAI: APAC 8.3%, North America 6.1%, EU 4.6%.
🔹 On average, 90% of APAC companies are focusing on a full scale of AI in 22.3 months, with China the shortest of the estimates at 20.3 months.
🔹 China and India lead APAC’s Gen AI efforts with scores of 75% and 74%, with the score in percent representing a mix of adoption and value creators
🔹 APAC GenAI laggards are North East and South East Asia, with scores of 67% and 65%
🔹 For consumer-facing industries, the emphasis on GenAI for revenue and cost is a 50/50 split
🔹 For B2B industries, the emphasis on GenAI for revenue and cost is a 45/55 split
🔹 Some 60% are working with US GenAI model providers.
🔹 There remains a large gap in being “fully ready” for GenAI integration between companies classified as “early-stage explorers,” only 2% of which were “fully ready” and “experienced practitioners,” which were 30% fully ready.
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