UiPath, a leading enterprise automation and AI software company, has published its annual Global Knowledge Worker Survey that uncovers how employees are using generative AI (GenAI), the shortcomings and risks of the technology, and the opportunity for combining GenAI with business automation.
The survey was launched during the UiPath AI-Powered Automation Summit held at Shangri-la Hotel in Bengaluru, India, as part of a series of roadshows across Asia Pacific and Japan that provides insights into how businesses can turn AI potential into concrete results by integrating AI with automation. During the summit, UiPath showcased their new family of LLMs, DocPATH and CommPATH. Unlike general-purpose GenAI models like GPT-4, which often struggle with performance and accuracy for specific tasks, DocPATH and CommPATH offer businesses powerful tools to customize AI models to their exact requirements. This customization allows for a precise understanding of any document and a wide variety of message types, eliminating the need for imprecise and time-consuming prompt engineering.
The Global Knowledge Worker Report — which is based on a survey of more than 9,000 workers from around the world — revealed that employees who use GenAI tools are saving more time in their workdays. However, those using both GenAI and business automation together achieve substantially more significant benefits.
While GenAI promises to revolutionize operations across industries, there is a lack of enterprise direction and training on the technology, leading to mistrust across global workforces. Currently, less than half (45%) of workers have been offered training or guidelines on how to use GenAI. Similarly, only 44% of employees think that GenAI has the context needed from their business’s data to support processes and drive value—though this number increases to 85% when employees use GenAI and business automation together.
Other key findings from this year’s report:
- GenAI provides significant time-saving benefits to workers: 42% of respondents who have implemented GenAI have saved 10 or more hours each week. By freeing up time in their days, almost half of workers (48%) have been able to focus on more creative tasks. Regionally, workers in Singapore and Hong Kong have seen the greatest time-saving benefits from implementing GenAI tools.
- The combination of GenAI and business automation maximizes the business value: When asked if employees have experienced any benefits from using GenAI and business automation software, respondents said greater productivity/get tasks done faster (43%), more accurate work (39%), and improved work/life balance (38%). When workers use the technologies together, 55% saved 10+ hours at work per week, compared to 31% of those who use only GenAI and 33% of those who use only business automation.
- However, there is a lack of trust around GenAI tools: Less than half (48%) of respondents indicate that they trust the outputs they get from GenAI tools. Regionally,Japan (26%), Germany (47%), and the U.S. (48%) trust GenAI’s outputs the least, and Singapore (67%), Korea (63%), and Hong Kong (62%) have the greatest trust in GenAI’s outputs.
- GenAI is being applied across departments and for a variety of processes: The most common types of tasks employees use GenAI for include drafting communications (38%), brainstorming (34%), and summarizing long-form content (30%).
“The UiPath Global Knowledge Worker Survey highlights the immense potential of Generative AI (GenAI) in transforming the workplace. GenAI tools can significantly save time and boost productivity, but it is crucial for employees to receive the necessary training and upskilling to fully harness this technology,” said Arun Balasubramanian, Vice President & Managing Director, India & South Asia at UiPath. “Furthermore, integrating GenAI with business automation platforms is essential to maximize its benefits and ensure its trustworthiness and security. I am also excited about our new family of LLMs, which will enable our customers in India to leverage specialized AI models tailored to their specific challenges and valuable use cases.”
The UiPath survey also uncovered that employees are feeling more burnout than ever before, with almost a third (32%) of respondents feeling extremely or very burnt out—compared to 29% of employees last year. GenAI presents an opportunity to alleviate the burdensome tasks that contribute to this issue; however, GenAI deployments will only be successful if workers are trained.
“AI is rapidly advancing in India, with the country implementing the second phase of its national AI strategy and action plan in 2024. Integrating automation with AI is going to be critical for Indian organizations to enhance efficiency, boost productivity, and drive business growth,” said Vasant Rao, Managing Director, IDC India
