This is the finding of a survey conducted by consulting firm PwC , for which 12,000 managers and employees from companies with more than 500 workers were surveyed around the world. In Germany, just 36% of those surveyed were positive about the potential of AI. In comparison: In Great Britain, this figure was 47%, while it was 86% in China and Hong Kong and as high as 91% in India.

The German managers and employees surveyed were also not particularly enthusiastic about digitalization: Just 55% believe that the introduction of new digital technologies will reduce workloads and increase quality (China and Hong Kong 84%, India 92%). The worldwide survey also found that managers and employees often rate new technologies differently: While 88% of all managers think that robot-based process automation will improve working environments, just 48% of employees share this opinion.

Yet, it may be a good idea for Germans to think again about their skepticism of AI: In a 2018 study , the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) found that the use of AI could lead to an additional gross value added of €31.8 billion in the production industry alone within five years – that is one third of the overall growth forecast.