Danish businesses and organisations have an enormous appetite for AI

We surveyed 400 employees from large and medium-sized Danish organisations to find out. The results reveal that generative AI has gained significant traction across workplaces, spanning a range of industries and size of organisation. However, there is still substantial untapped potential in the use of AI, which will require ongoing effort to realise.

The survey shows that 56% of Danish companies and organisations provide access to generative AI solutions, such as ChatGPT, CoPilot, or bespoke tools, for their employees. This represents an exceptionally rapid adoption of new technology, and is unprecedented in technological history. For comparison, it took 50 years for the telephone and 15 years for the internet to achieve similar levels of adoption.

Employees embrace AI tools

While introducing new technology is one thing, ensuring employees embrace it is another. Fortunately, this seems not to be an issue here, as more than half (57%) of the employees surveyed use generative AI to help with their daily tasks. Adoption is particularly high in the financial sector, where 81% of respondents reported daily use of generative AI.

Overall, employees have a positive view of AI. Only one in ten respondents expressed a negative attitude towards it. This positive outlook may stem from the perception that AI enhances efficiency, with 82% stating that AI saves them time on tasks. Some 40% reported time savings of 5-15%, while 17% experienced savings exceeding 15%.

The use of AI in Danish organisations has yet to reach its saturation point, with 93% expecting AI adoption to increase at their workplace over the next three years.

Concerns persist around AI usage

Despite the overall positivity, significant concerns remain. One-third (37%) of respondents expressed some level of worry about losing their jobs due to AI. This concern is most pronounced among younger employees and those with less formal education. This highlights the importance of careful change management when implementing AI solutions, to ensure employee input, career development, and upskilling are incorporated into the rollout.

Generative AI has also introduced some new, complex challenges and risks that are holding organisations back from fully realising its potential. These include a lack of transparency (15%), unpredictability (20%), ethical dilemmas (22%), and concerns about AI’s inaccuracies, such as hallucinations (37%).

In addition, organisations must address longstanding issues such as cybersecurity (a concern for 38%), data protection, and regulatory compliance (noted as a risk by one-third of respondents). These factors make AI a more complex technology to work with than previous innovations. This, alongside the fact that 26% see a lack of AI competencies as a limitation, it’s clear that organisations face challenges in unlocking AI’s full potential.

A large untapped potential remains

The findings clearly show an enormous appetite for generative AI solutions, with organisations and their employees already actively engaging with them. The key now is to move beyond the hype and harness AI’s next level of business value. This requires sustained investment in robust AI strategies that take a holistic approach, addressing ethical, regulatory, and organisational challenges as well as implementing the technology itself.

Organisations must ensure they have the right skills and invest in training so employees can embark on the AI journey in a secure and meaningful way. Finally, strong leadership is essential – leaders need to embrace a culture of learning and be willing to guide their organisations through these changes. This will enable AI solutions to evolve from pilot programmes to fully integrated systems, delivering real everyday value.

Read the article in Danish.