Delay in AI adoption by Italian companies

THE COMPETITIVE DELAY OF ITALIAN COMPANIES IN THE ADOPTION OF AI CAN BE OVERCOME WITH TRAINING

Reading the research GILITY 2025 "Human AI. The Relationship Between Training, AI Adoption, and Skills in Italian Companies", developed with a quantitative survey on a sample of 200 companies, is not comforting.

As is well known, the Italian business landscape is predominantly composed of SMEs, and this can only negatively impact the pace and ability to adopt AI. According to Eurostat data, 13,5% of European companies with at least 10 employees report using at least one AI technology, and Italy is below the European average at 8,3%.

Furthermore, Italy has lower levels of digital literacy than the OECD average.

Level of AI adoption in Italian companies

More than 6 out of 10 companies are in an experimental phase, testing AI tools in a fragmented manner, without a strategic plan. Only 8% say they have adopted AI in a structured way in their processes and organizational models. 27% have no initiatives of any kind. As for corporate figures, only 1 in 5 respondents said their company has a direction for the use of artificial intelligence. In the remaining 80% of cases, the vision is partial, fragmented, or completely absent.

The need for AI training

Only 1 in 7 companies (14%) report having already activated AI training with organic and planned programs.

29% declared having carried out sporadic training activities.

However, 57% of companies have not yet implemented any AI training program. Of these, 38% admit they don't even have concrete plans to introduce it.

A worrying situation

The research raises serious concerns, as it clarifies that the majority of Italian companies are at high risk of falling behind in competition.

The picture painted is one of indecisive leadership, unprepared to face change, and a staff that is still largely untrained.

The skills needed to tackle innovation

On the side of technical skills, the priority that emerges is to develop a solid capacity for working with data and AI tools, to know how to interpret the data and results produced by AI, transforming them into business decisions.

Also the cybersecurity It emerges as necessary, given that the integration of AI poses serious data protection and security issues.

With regard to soft skill, above all, critical thinking and evaluation skills emerge, that is, a critical mental approach that allows us to verify the results, identify biases and evaluate what the algorithm proposes.

AI is therefore not seen just as a technical issue, but as a global change that impacts the way we think and work.

In other words, people will have to acquire – through well-structured training plans – sufficient technical literacy to understand and use AI tools, but above all they will be called upon to develop the very skills in which machines are still weak.

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