The analyst firm Gartner has said that artificial intelligence software will make up $62.5 billion in revenue in 2022, rising by more than a fifth (21.3%) compared to 2021. Enterprises will most likely spend the majority of this money on knowledge management, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles, digital workplaces and crowdsourced data. Knowledge Management is expected to see the strongest growth next year at 31.5% and Virtual Assistants will see the least growth at 14.7%.
Commenting on the findings, Alys Woodward, senior research director at Gartner, said:
“The AI software market is picking up speed, but its long-term trajectory will depend on enterprises advancing their AI maturity. Successful AI business outcomes will depend on the careful selection of use cases. Use cases that deliver significant business value, yet can be scaled to reduce risk, are critical to demonstrate the impact of AI investment to business stakeholders.”
Gartner forecasts that the top five use case categories for AI software spending in 2022 will be knowledge management, virtual assistants, autonomous vehicles, digital workplace and crowdsourced data.
| Segment | 2021 Revenue | 2021 Growth (%) | 2022 Revenue | 2022 Growth (%) |
| Knowledge management | 5,466 | 17.6 | 7,189 | 31.5 |
| Virtual assistants | 6,210 | 12.0 | 7,123 | 14.7 |
| Autonomous vehicles | 5,703 | 13.7 | 6,849 | 20.1 |
| Digital workplace | 3,593 | 13.7 | 4,309 | 20.0 |
| Crowd-sourced data | 3,483 | 13.6 | 4,171 | 19.8 |
| Others | 27,049 | 14.1 | 32,827 | 21.4 |
| Total | 51,503 | 14.1 | 62,468 | 21.3 |
Demand for AI technologies and associated market growth is closely tied to organisational AI maturity levels. Organisations continue to demonstrate a strong interest in AI, with 48% of CIOs in the 2022 Gartner CIO and Technology Executive Survey responding that they have already deployed or plan to deploy AI and machine learning technologies within the next 12 months.
