Technology Seven out of 10 Spanish CEOs see AI as a "priority" investment but 75% fear that it is a means for cyberattacks

Artificial intelligence is in the spotlight of public opinion and the roadmaps of the country’s large companies were not going to be any less. 70% of their leaders in Spain assure that this type of technology is among the priority investments of the companies they manage, as concluded by the KPMG 2023 report on CEO opinions.

Specifically, the general directors surveyed – 50 are Spanish – refer to generative artificial intelligence, that is, that which provides new data based on the information received in training. Both nationally and internationally the proportion is the same.

Not as in the case of those who plan to begin making these investments profitable in a period of less than five years. While 82% of the country’s CEOs believe this, their global counterparts make up 79%.

In fact, and in both areas, one in five perceives that this profitability is the main benefit that the implementation of generative artificial intelligence in their companies can bring.

However, all change involves risks. And three out of four CEOs surveyed in Spain consider that artificial intelligence provides new ways to carry out cyberattacks. A risk against which 36% – above the 27% of the global average – of Spanish business leaders assume that their organization is not prepared to face an intrusion of this type.

Proof of this is that for seven out of ten respondents in Spain, security is the main concern regarding the introduction of artificial intelligence in the operation of their companies. To a lesser extent, but also among the biggest fears of CEOs in this regard include ethics (62%), the cost of implementation (60%) and the lack of regulation (56%).

Along the same lines, the risk map of large companies can be drawn. Since emerging and disruptive technologies, as well as regulatory aspects, are included among the concerns that Spanish business leaders face. In relation to the previous edition of the report, it is observed how legislative issues have gone from occupying first place to fifth, while technologies emerge directly as third concern.

Despite the great optimism with which Spanish CEOs present themselves regarding the economic growth of their organizations (90% believe that their company will improve its results until 2026), the inflationary scenario means that mitigating its effects is presented as the first between the strategic priorities of the companies they manage and interest rates as their main risk.

While at a global level political instability (in the 2022 edition) and geopolitics (in the 2023 edition) is one of the concerns for CEOs globally, it is not included among the five that most concern Spaniards. However, it is necessary to take into account the recent outbreak of the conflict between Hamas and Israel after the period for collecting responses included in this report.