Il Artificial Intelligence market in Italy continues to grow. In 2024 it reached a new record, touching 1,2 billion eurosa increase of 58% compared to the previous year. An increasingly marked sign of interest in AI-based technologies. Driving this evolution is in particular theGenerative AI, with tools such as OpenAI GPT chat e Microsoft Copilot that are revolutionizing the way companies operate.
According to the data of theArtificial Intelligence Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano, 99% of Italians have already heard of AI, while the 59% of large companies has already started at least one project in this area. Despite these positive numbers, however, theItaly lags behind the European average.
Italian companies are moving slowly
If on the one hand the big business Italians are integrating AI into their processes, 59% of them have already adopted at least one project, on the other hand the gap with the rest of Europe remains marked. In the main European countries, in fact, the rate of adoption of AI in large companies is on average 69%, a sign that Italy still has a certain gap to make up for.
Even among the small and medium-sized businesses (Pmi) theAI adoption is slow: only 7% of small companies and 15% of medium-sized companies have started projects in this field. Public AdministrationInstead, shows signs of growth, representing 6% of the AI market, with an expansion rate of over 100%.
ChatGPT, Copilot and the new AI applications
One of the sectors where AI is having the greatest impact is that ofBusiness process automation and data analysis. 53% of Italian companies have already acquired software licenses based on AI like ChatGPT and Copilot, one higher percentage than that recorded in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. And the integration of AI into business processes is giving concrete results: 39% of companies have already encountered a increased productivity in their workflows.
READ MORE: AI Saves Time but Worker Training Still Lacks
Among Most used AI solutions, 34% of the market is represented by demand forecasting, flow optimization and anomaly identification tools. The sector with the highest growth is that oftext analysis, which records an increase of 88% compared to 2023.
Italians' perception of AI
Despite the growing use of AI solutions, the perception of Italians towards this technology it's still conflicting. If on the one hand the 99% of the population has heard of it and 59% have a positive opinion, on the other hand several concerns emerge.
The main fears concern the risk of information manipulation , Spread of deepfakes, which could undermine trust in digital. Furthermore, 17% of Italians are concerned about theImpact of AI on the labor market, fearing job losses due to automation.
“Analysing the ecosystem as a whole we can say that Italy has among its strengths a valuable research activity and a rapidly expanding market”, he states John Miragliotta, co-director of the Artificial Intelligence Observatory. “Recent international developments, such as the tension between DeepSeek and OpenAI, show how much it still is a a rapidly evolving field of research with big changes in a very short time,” he adds Nicholas Cats, co-director of the Observatory.
