In collaboration with Berghs School of Communication, the digital news network Mynewsdesk has mapped how communicators, marketers and business executives use data in their work. The survey was conducted in 2018 by Mantis Research. Data collection took place for two months with a total of 1,050 respondents, 54 percent in Sweden and the remainder spread over Europe and the U.S. It revealed that only 17 percent understand the Artificial Intelligence concept so well that they can explain its practical uses to someone else.

Anyone who’s registered with Amazon and has bought something from the digital behemoth has seen data mining at work when suggestions pop up based on previous searches or orders. Despite its potential, few know how AI can benefit them. The survey showed that only one in five companies regularly makes decisions based on processed data and that another 20 percent never use data to make decisions. According to the survey, only 18 percent say they have sufficient knowledge to actually make sense of it.