The healthcare industry is accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence technologies, helping boost the total AI software market six times by 2025, analyst firm Omdia said Wednesday.
Even so, COVID-19 has taken a toll on the overall AI software market with retrenchment in industries such as energy, oil, gas and mining.
The firm put the overall AI software market at $16.4 billion in 2019 and expects it will grow to nearly $99 billion by 2025 under a moderate growth scenario.
Based on the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, Omdia has developed four market scenarios with the $99 billion forecast considered a moderate scenario with double digit annual growth ahead. This moderate scenario is down by 22% when compared to pre-COVID forecasts, however.
The firm’s most pessimistic forecast says AI software revenues will only reach $50 billion by 2025, while the most optimistic forecast reaches $130 billion by 2025.
Omdia follows 340 different AI use cases across 23 industries. The use cases include voice and speech recognition, video surveillance, customer service and marketing virtual digital assistants, network operations monitoring and management and supply chain and inventory management.
The pandemic effect will hit industries differently depending on how far along companies have progressed in adopting AI, said Omdia senior analyst Neil Dunay. Industries with the largest AI investments will continue to invest because they see the AI software as indispensable for cost cutting, revenue generation and enhancing customer interactions.
Despite its impact, Omdia said that AI software remains a relatively small portion of overall software sales.
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