Despite the economic impact of COVID-19, the artificial intelligence (AI) market is set to grow by 12.3 percent to US$156.5 billion in 2020, according to IDC.

The research firm expects global AI revenue to achieve a five-year compound annual growth rate of 17.1 percent to surpass US$300 billion in 2024.

Software is the largest AI technology group delivering roughly 80 percent of all AI revenue. Most of the software revenue comes from AI applications (US$120.4 billion) with AI software platforms (US$4.3 billion) accounting for the rest.

“AI applications continue to be at the forefront of digital transformation initiatives, driving both innovation and improvement to business operations,” said Ritu Jyoti, Program Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Research at IDC.

CRM AI applications take centre stage

CRM AI applications are expected to take centre stage within the AI applications market, both in terms of size and growth opportunities, in the coming years.

“Customer experience (CX) is the new brand. Leading CRM vendors are driving the intersection of CRM and CX, that help build strategies that improve both your customers’ and your employees’ experience with your business,” said Jyoti.

Adobe holds the top spot for AI-centric CRM applications while Microsoft is number one in AI non-centric CRM applications.

For ERM AI applications, Ceridian and Intuit take the top spots in AI-centric and AI non-centric types, respectively. IBM is first for AI-centric type while Microsoft occupies the top spot under AI non-centric type.

In other AI categories, services is predicted to hit US$18.4 billion for a 13 percent increase while AI hardware is expected to grow 10.3 percent to touch US$13.4 billion in 2020.