Lisbon, Oct. 8, 2024 (Lusa) - Only 8% of Portuguese companies used artificial intelligence solutions last year, according to the findings of a study carried out by Implement Consulting Group in partnership with Google, on the impact of AI on the country's gross domestic product and economy more generally.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) "are slower to adopt this technology when compared to large companies," reads a post published today by Google Portugal's country manager, Bernardo Correia, on 'The AI opportunity: Portugal's path to economic growth' in which he talks about the study.

"While 35% of large Portuguese companies adopted AI last year, only 7% of SMEs did so in the same period," he continues. "That's why investment in training new professionals is essential for the adoption of AI in the country.2 Emphasising that Google has "been working with AI for more than 20 years," Correia states that "its use by companies in Portugal still has a lot to grow" and that in the "study carried out by Implement Consulting Group in partnership with Google, only 8% of all companies in the country used AI solutions in 2023". 

According to the report, "in its peak year, in approximately 10 years, generative AI alone could boost mainland Portugal's GDP by 18-22 billion euros, i.e. +8% annual contribution to GDP in the peak year if Portugal achieves widespread adoption."

This figure is in line with estimates for the European Union.

"Due to some gaps in the main drivers of AI adoption, Portugal risks suffering a five-year delay in the adoption and development of generative AI," Correia warns, arguing that "such a delay would reduce the annual GDP potential from 8% to 2%, i.e. from 18 to 22 billion euros to three to five billion."

Generative AI has the potential to increase gross value added (GVA) in knowledge-intensive business services by around €6 billion, reads the post.

For example, in the commerce, transport and tourism sector, even with a lower percentage impact of generative AI, "it still has a significant economic potential of around five billion euros due to its large size" and in the public sector it is estimated to "contribute around four billion euros, through personalised instruction in education, diagnostic support and interactions with patients in healthcare and automatic document processing and preparatory decision-making in public administration."

In manufacturing and construction, AI has the potential to increase productivity by around €2.5 billion, it argues, acknowleding that the percentage impact is estimated to be lower than in other sectors. In agriculture, for example, the optimisation of crops "through precision agriculture and resource consumption, thus supports an estimated potential of up to 0.5 billion euros."

ALU/ARO // ARO.

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