Financial Firms Lead Enterprise AI Spending As 85% Plan Budget Increases
By CU Today Staff —
NEW YORK--Financial services and insurance companies are outpacing other major industries in their plans to spend more on artificial intelligence, with 85% expecting to increase AI budgets during the next 12 months, according to new research from PYMNTS Intelligence.
The sector is also further along in deploying AI across business functions, suggesting financial firms are moving beyond experimentation and putting more capital behind the technology.
The findings come from PYMNTS Intelligence’s “The Enterprise AI Benchmark Report: Financial Services Pulls Ahead in the Enterprise AI Race,” based on a March survey of 60 senior technology executives at U.S. companies with at least $1 billion in annual revenue. PYMNTS found 65% of financial services and insurance firms cited productivity and efficiency as reasons for investing in AI, while an equal percentage pointed to strategic or competitive positioning.
Other industries are also increasing spending, but PYMNTS found their motivations differ. Eighty percent of media and advertising firms expect to increase AI budgets, with 65% citing productivity, but just 25% pointing to monetary ROI and financial metrics. In healthcare, 60% plan to boost AI spending, while 60% cited funding pilot programs with no formal ROI requirement, suggesting the sector remains more focused on testing potential applications.
Despite the increased investment, PYMNTS found significant obstacles remain. Thirty percent of financial firms cited data quality and fragmentation as the biggest barrier to expanding AI, while healthcare firms reported challenges with both system integration and data quality. Still, PYMNTS said executives largely see AI as supporting rather than replacing people: Across the sectors surveyed, 80% to 85% said they expect AI to augment human decision-making during the next five years.
Originally reported by CU Today.