According to a recent survey, an increasing number of American companies are shifting from testing artificial intelligence (AI) to full-scale implementation. The survey, conducted by the American venture capital firm Menlo Ventures between September and October 2024, involved 600 IT decision-makers and revealed that total AI investment in the U.S. reached $2.3 billion in 2023, soaring to $13.8 billion in 2024, a sixfold increase.
The respondents were from companies with at least 50 employees, indicating that AI is gradually becoming a core technology for businesses rather than just an experimental tool. Approximately 72% of IT decision-makers expect AI tools to become more prevalent in their operations. However, despite the significant increase in investment, many companies are still navigating their AI strategies, with over one-third of IT leaders indicating they lack a clear plan for effectively utilizing AI within their organizations, suggesting that many businesses are still in the early stages of technology adoption.
In terms of funding sources, the channels for financing AI projects are changing. Currently, 60% of AI spending still comes from innovation budgets, but 40% has shifted to regular operational budgets, indicating that AI is gradually becoming a standard business tool. The IT department accounts for the largest share of AI spending at 22%, followed by product and engineering teams at 19%. Customer support, sales, and marketing departments are also beginning to use more AI tools, but their spending remains relatively low, with the legal department's AI spending constituting only 3%.
Currently, the most widespread application of AI in businesses is code generation, accounting for 51%. Support for chatbots and enterprise search tools follows closely at 31% and 28%, respectively, while about 24% of companies use AI to generate meeting summaries. Most organizations now utilize multiple AI models instead of relying on a single vendor. OpenAI's market share in the enterprise sector has dropped from 50% to 34%, while Anthropic has gained a significant portion of the market share.
When selecting AI systems, only 1% of decision-makers consider cost as a primary concern; they are more focused on measurable returns (30%) and the adaptability of tools to specific industries or companies (26%). However, many organizations underestimate the technical integration and support requirements, often leading to the failure of AI projects, with main reasons including unexpected implementation costs (26%), data privacy issues (21%), and disappointing results (18%).
According to the survey, the use of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology in enterprise settings has grown significantly, rising from 31% last year to 51% in 2024. Meanwhile, companies are also changing their database choices, with AI-specific vector databases gradually replacing traditional systems.
Key Highlights:
🔍 AI investment surged to $13.8 billion in 2024, with businesses rapidly transitioning to full implementation.
📈 Over one-third of companies still lack a clear AI usage plan, with many still in the exploratory phase.
💻 Code generation is the primary area of AI application, with businesses opting for multiple AI models instead of a single vendor.
