And can it come with an off switch please?
We’re getting deeper into the use of generative AI in both content and code development, but how excited are employees about using this new technology? And is management on board?
Contentful’s new report, Generative AI Professional Usage and Perception Survey , asked both those questions and more. The goal was to understand the context and attitudes that shape Contentful customers’ priorities and the usage of generative AI. The responses are from 820 technical and non-technical professionals worldwide, including marketing, designers, developers, engineers, and digital strategists.
Here’s what stood out to me, as well as some insights from Contentful’s Chief Evangelist, Nicole France.
There’s a big gap between those who know gen AI and those who don’t
There was a significant gap between those who said they were highly knowledgeable about gen AI and everyone else. These professionals work with it regularly, experimenting to determine where it can impact the most. It may not be surprising that technical professionals were likelier to rate their knowledge as high. They also used generative AI more personally (26% use it daily, 32% use it weekly).
People who use generative AI tools like them so much that they appear to be willing to pay for them whether their company provides tools or not. In this study, 18% pay out of pocket for tools and don’t expense them, and another five percent pay for additional professional use beyond what their company funds. Why? It might be because 38% reckon they save almost 5 hours a week, another 37% save 5-10 hours a week, and 11% save over 10 hours a week. In all cases, the technical professionals say they get the most time savings (although non-technical aren’t far behind).
The reasons some professionals don’t use gen AI at all are expected, including lack of knowledge and fear or concern. However, 29% said they had no interest in or needed to use it. This is interesting because, in the context of creating digital experiences, generative AI has many use cases, and anyone who doesn’t at least start looking at what it can do to help them in their jobs runs the risk of finding themselves behind and struggling to learn these tools when others around them already know them well.
