Most South American CEOs report advances in access to AI skills
Most business leaders in South America have made inroads in terms of access to skilled professionals to lead initiatives that involve the adoption of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), according to a new report by KPMG.
According to the CEO Outlook report, 87% of chief executives in the region have accelerated the creation of digital offerings to ensure delivery to their customers. Of all the leaders polled in the region, 57% of executives said they advanced significantly in terms of hiring professionals to deal with projects focused on automation and AI systems.
Of the executives in the region who have reported digital progress, 23% said that in order to achieve such results, it was necessary to overcome obstacles relating to a previous lack of vision around future operational scenarios.
According to a study carried out by Brazilian think-tank Fundação Getúlio Vargas commissioned by Microsoft, which investigated the impact of AI on key markets in Brazil - agriculture, transport, communications, oil and gas and government - which collectively represent 36.4 percent of GDP and found that AI could boost GDP growth across these sectors by up to 6,43 percent over the next 15 years.
Another study by the University of Brasília found that automation technologies such as AI could make more than half of all formal employment vacancies irrelevant in Brazil. According to the research, if Brazilian organizations continue to employ automation technologies such as artificial intelligence at the current rate, it could mean 30 million jobs will be eliminated by 2026.
According to the study, automation threatens more jobs in Brazil than in the United States, where 47 percent of vacancies could be eliminated by technology, but less than Europe (59%).
In other Latin countries such as Uruguay, automation poses a risk to 63% of jobs and in Argentina, 65% of vacancies could be eliminated, the study says. Guatemala has the highest percentage, where 75% of jobs could be performed by machines.