Spending on artificial intelligence (AI) systems is forecast to grow at 44 percent to $35.8 billion in 2019, according to IDC report.
The report also said spending on AI systems will more than double to $79.2 billion in 2022 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.0 percent over the 2018-2022 forecast period.
Retail companies will invest $5.9 billion in AI solutions such as automated customer service agents and expert shopping advisors & product recommendations.
Many European retailers such as Sephora, ASOS, and Zara or banks such as NatWest and HSBC are already experiencing the benefits of AI, including increased store visits, higher revenues, reduced costs, and more pleasant and personalized customer journeys.
Banking will be spending $5.6 billion for AI-enabled solutions including automated threat intelligence & prevention systems and fraud analysis & investigation systems.
Discrete manufacturing, healthcare providers, and process manufacturing will complete the top 5 industries for AI systems spending this year.
The industries that will experience the fastest growth in AI systems spending over the 2018-2022 forecast are federal/central government (44.3 percent CAGR), personal and consumer services (43.3 percent CAGR), and education (42.9 percent CAGR).
Use cases, such as intelligent process automation, expert shopping advisors & product recommendations, and pharmaceutical research and discovery will be exceeding the average five-year compound annual growth of 38 percent, Marianne Daquila, research manager, Customer Insights & Analysis at IDC.
Enterprises will be spending $4.5 billion on automated customer service agents, $2.7 billion on sales process recommendation and automation, and $2.7 billion on automated threat intelligence and prevention systems.
Automated preventative maintenance, diagnosis and treatment systems, fraud analysis and investigation, intelligent process automation, and program advisors and recommendation systems will be receiving more than $2 billion each in 2019.
Software will be the largest area of AI systems spending in 2019 with nearly $13.5 billion going toward AI applications and AI software platforms.
AI applications will be the fastest growing category of AI spending with a five-year CAGR of 47.3 percent.
Hardware spending, dominated by servers, will be $12.7 billion this year as companies continue to build out the infrastructure necessary to support AI systems.