Chinese enterprises are ambitious in adopting generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), but progress is slow, with only 8% of Chinese enterprises currently deploying generative AI in production environments, according to Gartner's latest survey results.

Bin Yan, research director at Gartner, said: "Although small-scale landing has occurred in a variety of scenarios, large-scale enterprise landing is still relatively rare. The development of enterprise generative AI has yet to reach key milestones. At the same time, the lack of use cases, model (product) maturity, and artificial intelligence (AI) readiness of enterprise data with significant business value are the top challenges facing enterprise generative AI adoption."

In June 2024, only 8% of Chinese enterprises will deploy generative AI in production environments, up from 6% in April 2023, an increase of only 2%. This is far below the global enterprise adoption rate of more than 20%.

The August 2024 China Data, Analytics and AI Technology Maturity Curve webinar revealed that several key factors have contributed to the slow landing of generative AI in China. Top challenges include value proof, model and product maturity, and AI-ready enterprise data.

Bin Yan, research director at Gartner, said: "Given the above challenges, some enterprises that have invested heavily in generative AI without clear business value may be starting to lose patience. The key for these businesses, though, is to recognize that since ChatGPT's release, the competition in the past has largely been among technology vendors. Now, after intense competition over models and tools, the competition among businesses over how to achieve meaningful AI outcomes is just beginning. These challenges can also be a key starting point for data and analytics leaders to win the race."