Tiina Pärson, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, pointed out that ChatGPT, which gained a lot of popularity last year, might also have an impact on the increased use of artificial intelligence. “ChatGPT and other AI solutions opened up new opportunities and changed the way people use technology,” said Pärson.

Looking at specific AI technologies, 7% of enterprises have used text mining and 6% have used natural language generation, a process that automatically generates human-understandable texts or stories from structured data. The use of image recognition, the process of identifying objects or people in photos or images, is also common (4%), as is deep learning for automatic analysis of data in a particular field (4%). Speech recognition (3%) and AI-based robotic process automation (3%) are also applied. The latter is mainly used to automate business processes, for example in financial accounting, logistics, healthcare, etc.

Enterprises apply AI technologies mainly to boost sales and marketing, but also for managing administrative processes, R&D or innovation activities, and ensuring information and communication technology (ICT) security.

The use of AI technologies is the most common among enterprises in the financial and insurance sector, as well as companies engaged in information and communication and professional, scientific and technical activities. In manufacturing, a tenth of enterprises make use of AI technologies. The main manufacturing activities where these technologies are more widely used are the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products and the manufacture of petroleum, chemical, pharmaceutical, rubber and plastic products.

6% of enterprises have considered using AI technologies. Lack of relevant knowledge has been identified as the main obstacle.

Cyber security is a growing concern for enterprises

Ensuring cyber security is one of the biggest challenges in the era of rapid technological development. Cyber security has become a critical issue in the business sector as the number and sophistication of cyber-attacks continue to increase. Last year, more than a fifth of enterprises faced at least one security incident where an ICT service was unavailable, data were lost or corrupted, or confidential data were leaked.

“One of the most serious problems is confidential data disclosure, which can cause extensive economic as well as reputational damage. If sensitive data fall into the wrong hands, it can lead to loss of customer trust and legal consequences,” Pärson noted.

Of the enterprises participating in this year’s survey, 2.1% had suffered a leak of confidential data in the previous year, either due to an intrusion, a phishing attack, or the deliberate or unintentional actions of their own employees. As many as 10% of large enterprises reported that they had been affected by a disclosure of confidential data. A widespread problem was also the unavailability of ICT services. This was reported by more than a fifth of all enterprises and 48% of large enterprises.

The majority of enterprises use a variety of security measures to protect themselves against cyber-attacks. The most common ICT security measures are strong password authentication, data backup to a separate location, and network access control. Nearly a tenth of enterprises, mostly with a small number of employees, have no ICT security measures in place.