The development of artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at a rapid pace, and Nordic consumers believe that the increased use of AI benefits most industries. The manufacturing industry is expected to profit the most from the increasing use of AI. When it comes to healthcare, people in the Nordics are much more sceptical.
This and much more gets revealed in Tieto’s new Nordic survey that shows how the general public in Sweden, Finland and Norway see the development and use of AI in different occupations and industries.
Today, machine learning can be used to analyze large amounts of complex patient information and often make predictions of the human condition that are more accurate than predictions made by a clinical expert. Despite the benefits, the healthcare sector is found at the bottom of the list of industries that are expected to benefit from increased use of AI, almost every fifth (19%) believes that the healthcare sector would not at all benefit from using the technology.
The study shows that human contact is essential to ensure trust in the technology. Forty-three percent of the Nordic consumers only trust a diagnosis made by an AI if a human has been involved, and every fourth (24%) does not want an AI to be able to make their diagnosis. Only eight percent would completely trust an AI-only diagnosis.
Christian Guttmann, Global Head of Artificial Intelligence & Data Science, Tieto, said: “AI has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare sector, and we have only scratched the surface of the opportunities that await. The technology can, for example, already now enable preventive healthcare, support more accurate diagnoses and find hidden patterns in patent data that humans tend to miss.
“Despite the many benefits, the scepticism seems to be linked to a fear of losing human validation and contact. While AI will augment and replace many tasks, we can also expect to see new tasks emerge in the healthcare sector, particularly new tasks that humanize the experience at a doctor’s office or during a hospital visit.”
The sectors that most people in the Nordic countries believe would benefit from increased use of AI is industry and manufacturing (82% agree to some extent), followed by post and logistics (80%), accounting (78%) and banking and finance (77%).
Christian Guttmann, said: “The survey provides us with a sentiment of how the general public views how AI will impact each person’s daily lives, and what they see happening to key industries and professions in the near future. Industries that have started to use AI solutions early benefit to a greater extent today than industries that play a catch-up game.
“Several forward-looking banks and insurances invested early in the development of new consumer-centric AI solutions, and their resulting experience proves invaluable to develop a strong position in the emerging AI era.”
Among the professions that the Swedes believe would be made better by an AI topped the list of bank officials, politicians, accountants, officials and bus/taxi drivers. The profession of nurse, doctor and teacher is not expected to be improved at all by an AI, according to a Nordic majority.
