GKI: AI is spreading rapidly in the service sector, while adoption in other sectors is only sluggish

According to 45% of the companies surveyed, AI has not had any impact on their market at all in the past 3 years, while another 23% said that artificial intelligence has only had a moderate impact. 19% of domestic companies reported a medium impact, 9% a strong impact, while only 3% of them have completely transformed their market with the new technology.

What impact has the rise of artificial intelligence had on their market in the past 3 years? (percentage distribution)

Source: GKI survey

A marked difference can be observed and across sectors: AI had a stronger impact in the service sector and trade, while it was much more moderate in industry and construction. In the service sector, nearly half of respondents perceive the effects of AI, of which 22% reported significant or complete market transformation. In trade, many people also experience the effects of AI (41%) at least at a moderate level, here 13% are experiencing a large or complete market transformation.

The situation is different in industry: nearly 60% of respondents did not have any impact on their market at all, only 6% indicated a strong or very strong impact. In the construction industry, more than 60% do not believe that their market has been transformed by artificial intelligence, while 13% reported a significant impact.

According to 8% of the responding companies, artificial intelligence can be used in almost all activities, and another 16% believe that it can be used in most tasks. 38% see medium and 25% only a small degree of usability in AI, while 13% do not consider it applicable in their operations at all. Therefore, the new technology can be used at least partially in most companies. All this could mean huge market potential for AI development companies.

Most of all, company managers in the service sector believe that AI can be used in most tasks (37%). In trade, this proportion is 20%, in industry 15%, and in construction 8%.

In your opinion, how much of the tasks performed in your company can be covered by artificial intelligence? (percentage distribution)

Source: GKI survey

Opinions are divided among business leaders regarding the reliability of artificial intelligence. 9% say that AI-generated content is not reliable at all, 19% are slightly pessimistic. The majority of respondents (47%) are in the middle on the question, 22% are moderately optimistic. Interestingly, only 2% said that they find content created with the help of artificial intelligence completely reliable.
According to our results, the industry differences can be explained primarily by sectoral characteristics: AI is not used to a small extent in industry and construction because the attitudes of company managers differ from those of their counterparts in other sectors, but rather because the nature of the activity itself hinders its spread.

The Hungarian economy is experiencing a two-speed AI revolution: while the service sector is already moving in the fast lane, industry and construction are currently watching events from the stop lane. According to a recent survey by the GKI, almost half of companies (45%) have not yet felt any market impact, and trust in the technology is generally low, with only 2% of companies fully trusting AI. The sectoral gap is indicated by the fact that while 22% of service companies already report significant market transformation, nearly 60% of industrial and construction companies say AI has not transformed their market at all.