Much of the focus on artificial intelligence is on how it can help to automate tasks normally performed by humans, but most organizations are adopting the tech primarily for its business benefits, according to a survey from 451 Research Inc.

The analyst firm published the findings of its “Voice of the Enterprise (VoTE): AI & Machine Learning – Adoption, Drivers and Stakeholders 2018” survey Thursday, having quizzed 550 “IT end-user decision-makers” from small, midsized and large enterprises around the world.

According to the survey findings, almost half of organizations have deployed, or are planning to deploy, machine learning technology in production within the next year.

Nick Patience, founder and research vice president for software at 451 Research, said that although many media outlets tend to report on the negatives of machine learning and AI, the successful deployments seen so far portray a more realistic picture of the state of machine learning adoption.

The analyst firm said companies have seen “significant benefits” from their machine learning investments. Some 49 percent of respondents said they’ve increased their competitive advantage thanks to the technology, while 44 percent said customer experiences have improved. Another interesting finding is that the long-term impacts of machine learning, including acquiring and holding on to new customers, surpass short-term benefits such as reducing costs.

“Despite all the hype around mass job losses, lowering costs was cited by only a quarter of our survey respondents,” said Patience. “We think this demonstrates that AI and machine learning is an omni-purpose technology that can bring numerous benefits to organizations, beyond just lowering costs through increased automation.”

But the survey also found that many firms struggle with machine learning for lack of skilled workers. However, 451 Research says this skills gap should dissipate as AI tools become more familiar and integrated.

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