Impact of AI on 5 Major Industries

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the business landscape since its inception and continues to astonish with its diverse applications. Its limitless potential has drawn numerous businesses to adopt it. But what specific benefits does AI offer to businesses? Here’s a look into five major industries and the tangible advantages they gained from embracing AI:

1. Healthcare

AI is used in healthcare for both internal and external purposes such as staff scheduling, patient-doctor matching, drug discovery, treatment, monitoring, diagnosis, and personalized medicine.

In 2020, an AI-enabled system by Globus.ai saved hospitals 90% of the time previously needed to match patients to doctors as well as to plan medical staff rotations. That same year, a study published by PLOS One found an AI method that could reduce 30-day hospital readmissions after general surgery by 12%. In 2022, Insider Intelligence stated that AI could curb drug discovery costs by up to 70%. This year, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) revealed that a biopharma company is using generative AI (GenAI) to lower drug discovery timelines by 25%.

2. Retail

AI is used in retail to support and elevate existing tasks such as customer service, customer analysis, product recommendations, supply chain management, and inventory management.

In NVIDIA’s recent “State of AI in Retail and CPG” report (x), 69% of professionals surveyed attributed revenue growth to AI adoption, while 72% credited cost reduction to AI. More than 60% also plan to increase AI investments in the next year and a half. This upward trend aligns with Mordor Intelligence’s (x) forecast that AI in retail will grow at a CAGR of 32.17% in the next five years, estimating a start of $9.65 billion in 2024 and reaching $38.92 billion in 2029.

3. Finance

AI is used in finance to assist with and improve data analysis, insights and predictions, decision-making, risk management, fraud detection, customer service, cyber security, and many more.

In 2020, the Statista Research Department reported that over a third of the global financial sector experienced a revenue increase of more than 20% after AI adoption, with 20% reporting a 5-10% revenue increase (x). In 2023, NVIDIA’s “State of AI in Financial Services: 2023 Trends” survey found that 36% of 500 professionals credited a decrease of over 10% in annual costs to AI (x). In NVIDIA’s “State of AI in Financial Services: 2024 Trends”, 80% of 400 professionals confirmed that AI continues to increase revenue and decrease annual costs (x).

4. Energy

AI is used in energy to address industry-specific challenges, such as grid management, energy distribution, and asset utilization, as well as to improve efficiency, innovation, and resilience.

In 2015, IBM’s AI program for the US Department of Energy improved solar forecast accuracy by 30% (x). In 2019, Google increased the financial value of its wind power by 20% due to AI improving operational efficiency and predictions (x). In 2023, companies reported an average revenue increase of 14.65% due to AI (x). This year, BCG reported that a US energy company experienced an increase in productivity by 7% after launching a GenAI conversational platform (x).

5. Manufacturing

AI is used in manufacturing to assist with operational tasks, such as quality control, production processes, machine data analysis, anomaly detection, maintenance, and energy consumption.

In 2020, IBM reported that 64% of manufacturers rely on AI in daily operations, especially in quality control, and that AI –powered solutions can improve yield by 30% (x). The same year, a survey by Deloitte found that 27% of respondents believe their AI projects have brought them value while 56% believed their projects will bring value in 2-5 years (x). In 2023, the World Economic Forum released a white paper stating that 89% of executives believe AI is essential to achieving their growth objectives but only one in six have successfully incorporated AI (x).

AI is recognized as a strategic advantage, enabling businesses to stay ahead of competitors. Recently, a survey conducted by Tom Davenport of Babson College revealed that 80% of large firms that don’t have GenAI in production deployment have developers experimenting with OpenAI’s tools (x). In addition, OpenAI CEO Altman shared that over 2 million developers, including over 92% of Fortune 500 companies, actively use the platform (x). All these statistics underscore the transformative impact and positive expectations of AI across industries.