The latest results of Vanson Bourne’s ongoing AI B2B research series, based on insights from the Vanson Bourne Community, are in. Among them are quite a few findings that speak to UK leaders’ current AI concerns of the AI revolution. There are almost no aspects of AI that, in one form or another, businesses aren’t struggling to get to grips with.
Here are three key themes:
“Reg-u-lation time, come on!”
Seven in ten respondents to our March survey signalled that they need help preparing for AI regulations, such as the EU AI Act. The act is part of a broader EU strategy to ensure that AI systems are safe, lawful, and align with fundamental rights.
What’s particularly interesting about this statistic is twofold. These are UK respondents and the UK doesn’t even have its own AI Act. But there’s no doubt that aside from anything homegrown, business and IT leaders in the UK are fully aware of the implications for them of regulations originating across the Channel, such as GDPR.
If you’re a technology vendor currently extolling the virtues of your AI-centric solutions, ask yourself how well developed your organisation’s position is regarding the evolving regulatory environment. And how effective you are at communicating that position to the market. Vanson Bourne’s recent report on marcomms effectiveness would suggest the answer to be “not very”. And yet your audience cares … a lot.
Desperately seeking DeepSeek
In January, DeepSeek took the AI world by storm. It literally came from nowhere. Challenging the incumbent AI vendors and forcing us all to rethink whatever preconceptions we might have had about the future of AI.
In the last third of January, it was THE most talked about AI vendor. Building on this platform, by March it was … nowhere.
Whether or not DeepSeek makes a return or is eclipsed by the Next Big Thing, who knows? But that’s not the question we should be asking. The question we should be asking is: what impact has this had on the way that enterprise IT views the investment case for AI?
AI in cybersecurity: the poacher and the gamekeeper?
AI has the potential to enhance productivity, automate tasks and accelerate innovation. For all of us. And when I say “all of us”, I mean cyber criminals too. Nobody is excluded.
Cybersecurity is an arms race. IT decision makers are looking to vendors to deploy sophisticated AI solutions to counter … the sophisticated AI solutions being deployed by cyber criminals. And around half of our respondents are of the view that the criminals are winning.
But until AI grows a conscience, fighting fire with fire is all we have.
The AI Barometer
Each month we survey 100 IT and business leaders across the UK, from our expert network: the Vanson Bourne Community. We explore their AI plans, perceptions, priorities and pain points in their organisations and industries. From emerging trends to current concerns, we investigate what UK leaders are really thinking and doing when it comes to AI strategies and investment.
Explore more insights in a selection of recent articles and reports below:
- More players, more pressure? How the AI market is being shaken up
- Why building trust should be a top priority for AI vendors in 2025
- AI: The race for a use case
