Only 7% of Belgians use AI tools for work 

Brussels, 16 November 2023

Today, Deloitte presented its Digital Consumer Trends Report, an international survey in which the company analyses consumers' technology habits every year. The report shows that 2023 is the year when artificial intelligence (AI) has made an appearance among the general public, with the popular application ChatGPT playing an important role as a gateway to the world of generative AI. A quarter of Belgians were already using generative AI, but what is striking is that it is mainly for personal use; only 7% of Belgians also use AI at work. 
 

AI has been a buzzword for a while now. With the launch of ChatGPT, the technology also made its way into our daily lives. Suddenly, anyone could use so-called generative AI to write texts, draft emails or generate images. It therefore raises the question of the popularity of those tools in Belgium. With its Digital Consumer Trends Report, Deloitte now offers an answer to that. 
 

ChatGPT remains the absolute gateway to the world of generative AI

The popular application ChatGPT is by far the most well-known tool, with a whopping 40% of respondents aware of the intelligent chatbot. In second place we find Snapchat's My AI, which is known to 8% of respondents. What is striking is that is that the AI tools from tech giants Microsoft and Google are less known to the Belgian public. For instance, only 6% are aware of Microsoft Bing Chat and only 4% know what Google Bard is. So, it seems that despite increased range of available tools, ChatGPT remains the absolute gateway to the world of generative AI. 
 

Low awareness of AI's faults 

The survey also shows that a significant proportion of respondents are unaware of the potential inaccuracies of AI tools. As many as one in three believe that the technology always produces factually accurate answers and that those answers are unbiased. It shows that there are still big steps to take in terms of AI literacy.

"The assumption that AI does not make mistakes is highly problematic because the current generative AI tools on the market are language models that can make wrong predictions, a phenomenon also known as 'hallucination'. For example, the model can present sentences that are factually incorrect, but that sound very plausible to some readers because of the context. It is therefore important to make a sustained commitment to AI literacy so that users are sufficiently armed to recognise incorrect answers. At federal and regional level, there are already several initiatives in Belgium to increase AI literacy, both in the workplace and in policy making," said Vincent Fosty.

In light of these findings, Deloitte supports clients with a service called Trustworthy AI, which helps companies develop and implement AI tools in a way that ensures the reliability of results and prevents unintended biases. 
 

Only 7% use AI for professional purposes

One in four Belgians have already used generative AI. Most of them use the technology infrequently, with only one in five using it on a weekly basis and only one in 20 using it on a daily basis. 

What is striking is that the technology serves mainly for personal use – as many as 7 in 10 respondents stated they use AI purely for personal purposes. Only 29% of people that used generative AI also use the tools in their job or training, which corresponds to 7% of the total population. This is rather surprising, given that 30% of Belgians are convinced that their employer would welcome the use of AI to automate daily tasks.

"We find that people use AI mostly recreationally, to give the technology a try and see what it has to offer. It is not yet the case that the tools have taken up a permanent place in our workflow. Going forward, we expect that the technology will be used more often to automate simple work and thus increase productivity. But AI needs to be trustworthy to reach a higher and more sustainable level of adoption." said Vincent Fosty.

Although more and more people seem to be embracing the technology, half of the respondents are still concerned about the potential impact of AI on employment in the future. For instance, they fear that their job will be replaced by an algorithm in the future.

For more information: www.deloitte.com/be/digital-consumer-trends