Services and Skill-Intensive Social Services

from India, Bhatia and Mani (2020) similarly find that ICT services—computer programming, consultancy, and related activities; data processing, hosting, and related activities; and other information service activities—are higher than the 75th percentile SML score, on average, across all industries.

Beyond the suitability for machine learning, robotic process automation (RPA) software is already increasingly commonplace in global innovator services. For example, the share of European firms that use customer relationship management (CRM) software is highest in the ICT services sector, followed by professional, scientific, and technical services (Hallward-Driemeier et al. 2020). The use of AI and ML is also most prevalent in global innovator services, and this has increased in recent years. Globally, a disproportionately large number of firms that use AI or ML software are in the computer software industry, although skill-intensive social services such as higher education and health care are also among the most automated (figure 3.7). The penetration of AI skills is also most widespread in the computer software and IT services industries and increased significantly between 2016 and 2018 (figure 3.8).

FIGURE 3.7 The Use of AI or ML Software Is Most Prevalent among Global Innovator Services and Skill-Intensive Social Services

Number of firms that purchased AI or ML software worldwide, by industry, 2018

Computer software Information technology and services Higher education Hospital and health care Financial services Computer hardware Retail Human resources Telecommunications Insurance Internet Banking Government administration Marketing and advertising Research Automotive Education management Pharmaceuticals Aviation and aerospace Medical devices

0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 Number of firms

Source: Calculations based on iDatalabs (now Enlyft, http://www.enlyft.com) data for the World Bank. Note: The dataset is generated using web scraping. It covers 17,000 formal firms in 107 countries across regions and income levels. AI = artificial intelligence; ML = machine learning.