- A British business adopts AI once every 60 seconds, AWS Research claims
- Startups are twice as likely to have a strategy than large companies
- Lack of skills diminishing companies where recruitment on average takes 5.5 months
AI admission in the UK has grown by 33% in the past year, with 52% of British companies aboard with technology compared to 39% last year, a new report has claimed.
Adoption as accelerated to the point that a company adopts new AI tools and strategies every 60 seconds, says research from AWS.
Benefit advantage is also more visible, with 92% of AI-Adopting companies, now reporting an increase in revenue, compared to 64% in 2024, but Amazon’s report reveals a discrepancy between different types of business and the need for further work.
UK -Companies adopt AI every 60 seconds
Although large companies and startups have similar degree of adoption of 55%and 59%respectively, startups appear to be more prepared for shifts in technology, where more than double (31%) has extensive AI strategies compared to their large company colleagues (15%).
In addition to identifying a clear path, companies are also struggling with the ongoing lack of skills, with almost two out of five (38%) referring to a lack of skills as a key barrier, up from 29% last year.
Almost half (46%) says this is now slowing down their business, where the average company spends five and a half months hiring talent with the required digital skills. AI Literacy is expected to be a widely desired skill across 47% of new jobs within the next three years, highlighting a key area that potential employees must focus on to help themselves stand out against their peers.
In line with Britain’s efforts to become AI leader, AWS has announced a British initiative to educate 100,000 people in AI skills at the end of the decade, confirming collaboration with universities such as Exeter and Manchester.
This, Amazon said, will help Britain unlock £ 45 billion a year in unrealized savings and productivity benefits across the public sector alone – a fierce sum of prediction that comes from the government’s own figures.
“If we do not address the most important barriers to the adoption of the UK-Ice-Ice Digital Skills, we risk the emergence of a two-layer AI economy,” explained AWS director of business strategy Phil Le-brown.
