Survey Reveals 75% Not Aware of Scope of New Landmark Proposed EU Legislation on Artificial Intelligence

Over 75% of directors/senior executives surveyed are not aware of the extensive scope of the proposed landmark EU legislation on AI which is the first comprehensive set of regulations for the industry[1], while more than half do not have a board-approved AI and cyber security strategy in place, a new survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD) Ireland has revealed.

Only 27% of respondents felt that the AI decision-making process is protected against unintentional biases, the survey also revealed. Of those who use AI, 71% reported that they use it to enhance operational efficiency within their organisation, while over 60% of Irish directors/senior executives still do not use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in any way in their organisations. 

The new survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Ireland, the leading national membership body for directors and business leaders, assesses the adoption of AI technologies, industry sentiment and the attitude towards AI as a business tool among its members.

Among the key findings revealed by the survey are:

1. Current utilisation of AI: 41% of respondents reported that their organisations are not yet using AI but that they are planning to explore the concept in the future, while 19% have no plans to explore the use of AI.
2. Board-approved IT Strategy including AI and cyber security: 53% of respondents do not have such a strategy in place, while 6% were not aware whether their company had such a strategy in place.
3. Use of AI in business: Of those respondents whose organisations use AI, 71% of directors reported that they use it to enhance operational efficiency within their organisations, 34% use it for development of insights to support product/service development while 38% replied that they use it for customer engagement.
4. EU Regulation on AI: A significant majority (75%) of survey participants were not aware of the scope of the EU’s draft Artificial Intelligence Act, and 45% of these had no opinion as to whether the proposed regulatory framework is pitched at the right level to deal with the risks and opportunities associated with AI. Of the 24% who are aware of the Act, only 7% strongly agree that the proposed regulatory framework is satisfactory.
5. Protection against unintentional biases: Of those surveyed, just 27% of respondents agreed with the statement 'The steps in creating the AI decision-making process are protected against unintentional biases' whereas 34% could neither agree nor disagree.
6. Challenges and Concerns: 62% of respondents ranked data privacy and security as areas of most significant risk from the use of AI. Additionally, 58% of those surveyed pinpointed ethical use as a risk in deploying AI within their company/organisation.

Speaking about the survey findings, IoD Ireland Chief Executive Officer, Caroline Spillane CDir, said:

The directors surveyed are from a wide range of businesses including State or semi-State bodies, not-for-profit organisations, private sector SMEs and plc/multinationals.