Table 5 AI barriers and related quotes... | Emerald Publishing

Table 5

AI barriers and related quotes

Barriers	Quotes
Organisational culture	“In some cases, there is resistance to change that there is fear that AI will replace human beings” [Interview #2] “The most important barrier is the cultural one, which has several sub-aspects and cannot be generalised, there is an aspect related to age, an aspect related to the age of use of devices, but also the general culture in digital transformation and methodology. This also relates to the propensity and adoption of digital transformation by everyone. We annually work on creating and delivering courses to facilitate learning, for example.” [Interview #34] “The biggest obstacle is us; Let me explain: if the organisation does not have a proactive orientation towards the use of these new technologies, otherwise it becomes useless even to talk about them” [Interview #40]
Unskilled human resources	“Not having skilled people inside and outside the organization” [Interview #29] “It is easy to find in the US [qualified personnel] … especially in the West Cost because there are dedicated schools. When you make the leap to Europe, the availability is halved, but even in this case there is a difference, in fact in Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries, some good figures are easy to find, but you must look for them, if you go down to the Latin countries it is very difficult. In Italy there is something concentrated between Milan (above all) and Rome, southern Italy practically zero” [Interview #34] “You need an AI developer professional that has an eye also on the needs, on the business needs, on the user needs. That’s quite difficult to get because AI is quite a specialised area” [Interview #36]
Financial resources	"The problem is that if you convince yourself that AI is cheap stuff and that it works right away, you risk failing miserably; [AI] needs a million images to work, and to work on a million images doesn’t cost 100 euros. It’s not like everyone can afford [it]” [Interview #3] “There is also an economic factor because the initial investment is not a trivial investment” [Interview #4] “AI is very expensive and [the cost] depends on several factors: the technology we are using, whether you pay per transaction, etc. It is not cheap at all!” [Interview #14] “Budget availability, because these technologies cost money” [Interview #34] “Budget availability, always” [Interview #36]
Time and training	“[AI] may give poor results, but not because the design is wrong, but because the problem has been wrongly posed, or because the data are insufficient” [Interview #3] “Men program AI; so, it’s not a problem of AI, it’s a problem of who programmed it” [Interview #8] “AI must be trained and improved for a long time to have good results” [Interview #10] “Only if the [AI] system is well configured to collect data, information, and knowledge from different resources and then present it well [AI is useful], otherwise no” [Interview #14] “Implementation time [is a barrier]” [Interview #26] “Unfortunately, it is not easy to set up such technology, and a project takes three to five years, and in that time, technology changes very quickly, and the tool being worked on is perhaps no longer needed” [Interview #34]
Organisation size	“The [small] size of the company is a barrier [for AI adoption]” [Interview #1] “What we are, in terms of size, matters a lot when it comes to AI. In my head, there are many ideas of how AI could help us, but we are still too small to implement certain tools.” [Interview #18] “The bigger the ship, the harder it is to change its course! Our organization’s size does not make AI tools adoption an easy task” [Interview #52]

Barriers	Quotes
Organisational culture	“In some cases, there is resistance to change that there is fear that AI will replace human beings” [Interview #2]“The most important barrier is the cultural one, which has several sub-aspects and cannot be generalised, there is an aspect related to age, an aspect related to the age of use of devices, but also the general culture in digital transformation and methodology. This also relates to the propensity and adoption of digital transformation by everyone. We annually work on creating and delivering courses to facilitate learning, for example.” [Interview #34]“The biggest obstacle is us; Let me explain: if the organisation does not have a proactive orientation towards the use of these new technologies, otherwise it becomes useless even to talk about them” [Interview #40]
Unskilled human resources	“Not having skilled people inside and outside the organization” [Interview #29]“It is easy to find in the US [qualified personnel] … especially in the West Cost because there are dedicated schools. When you make the leap to Europe, the availability is halved, but even in this case there is a difference, in fact in Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon countries, some good figures are easy to find, but you must look for them, if you go down to the Latin countries it is very difficult. In Italy there is something concentrated between Milan (above all) and Rome, southern Italy practically zero” [Interview #34]“You need an AI developer professional that has an eye also on the needs, on the business needs, on the user needs. That’s quite difficult to get because AI is quite a specialised area” [Interview #36]
Financial resources	"The problem is that if you convince yourself that AI is cheap stuff and that it works right away, you risk failing miserably; [AI] needs a million images to work, and to work on a million images doesn’t cost 100 euros. It’s not like everyone can afford [it]” [Interview #3]“There is also an economic factor because the initial investment is not a trivial investment” [Interview #4]“AI is very expensive and [the cost] depends on several factors: the technology we are using, whether you pay per transaction, etc. It is not cheap at all!” [Interview #14]“Budget availability, because these technologies cost money” [Interview #34]“Budget availability, always” [Interview #36]
Time and training	“[AI] may give poor results, but not because the design is wrong, but because the problem has been wrongly posed, or because the data are insufficient” [Interview #3]“Men program AI; so, it’s not a problem of AI, it’s a problem of who programmed it” [Interview #8]“AI must be trained and improved for a long time to have good results” [Interview #10]“Only if the [AI] system is well configured to collect data, information, and knowledge from different resources and then present it well [AI is useful], otherwise no” [Interview #14]“Implementation time [is a barrier]” [Interview #26]“Unfortunately, it is not easy to set up such technology, and a project takes three to five years, and in that time, technology changes very quickly, and the tool being worked on is perhaps no longer needed” [Interview #34]
Organisation size	“The [small] size of the company is a barrier [for AI adoption]” [Interview #1]“What we are, in terms of size, matters a lot when it comes to AI. In my head, there are many ideas of how AI could help us, but we are still too small to implement certain tools.” [Interview #18]“The bigger the ship, the harder it is to change its course! Our organization’s size does not make AI tools adoption an easy task” [Interview #52]

Source: Authors’ own work