Politicians under pressure to act

Austria has no plan for artificial intelligence

AI has an economic potential of 40 billion euros

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Emanuel (KI-generiert))

Artificial intelligence is on the rise and is becoming increasingly important for both the private and public sectors. However, Austria lacks a corresponding holistic strategy. The business community is calling for a master plan for AI from the next government.

The development cannot be stopped. Politicians would do well to use artificial intelligence in a positive way and take measures to actively avoid the negative aspects, says Harald Kohlberger, Managing Director of Consileon - an IT company that is involved in numerous projects in public administration.

"We need substantive and political control over what we do and what we don't do with these technological possibilities. Without this, AI is like a sprawling octopus that moves somewhere without control, without an approach and without a plan." Such a development should be viewed very critically, warns Kohlberger.

Harald Kohlberger, Managing Director of Consileon

(Bild: Consileon)

There are many examples where the state could make use of AI. One of them is external border protection. Artificial intelligence can help protect against the immigration of illegal refugees and potential terrorists. Another field of application is the labor market, where AI could help the right applicants find the right job.

Economic potential

A study commissioned by Google has identified the enormous economic potential of AI.

- According to the study, the use of generative AI could increase Austria's gross domestic product by 35 to 40 billion euros in ten years.

- 2.8 million workers in Austria could be supported by generative AI in the future.

- The annual productivity gain for the Austrian economy through generative AI is 1.4 percent.

- A third of Austrian companies expect the use of generative AI to increase productivity, and around half of companies plan to invest in AI in the next five years.

- In 2023, eleven percent of companies in Austria will have used at least one AI tool.

- 75 percent of the economic potential of generative AI in Austria lies in the service sector.

Kohlberger confirms that Europe is lagging behind the USA and China when it comes to technical developments. This is because the conditions in the USA are different, for example in terms of risk financing. "It's much easier to become a big start-up there. And of course the regulatory and legal framework comes into play in Europe."

National Council election as an opportunity for AI program 
"Nevertheless, we should simply seize the opportunity, especially as far as Austria is concerned." What we lack, however, is a "living master plan for the topic of AI and innovation, tailored to the individual, socially relevant fields". AI solutions are needed in the healthcare sector, in education, in transportation, in security and so on. "

We have a great opportunity right now with the National Council elections, regardless of what the future government looks like, to install such a topic in the next government program, to define flanks with which the topics can then be implemented in the individual ministries."

Bad AI systems can "hallucinate"
"The topic must be given the necessary importance, because otherwise we will probably not take the next big steps in this area in the future." In the past, scientists have often complained that too little real effort has been put into the systems and structures. Special attention should be paid to the quality of AI systems, says Kohlberger. "There are a lot of AI systems that start to hallucinate at some point. This means that they then spit out an incorrect result." Quality assurance systems are needed and these are particularly challenging in the AI sector.

Consileon is a medium-sized management and IT consultancy that has been operating since 2001 and now employs around 530 people as a German-Austrian company. There are also locations in Poland and a subsidiary in Switzerland.