Small Businesses in Hungary Would Use AI

Three quarters of micro and small businesses would be willing to try, and one third of them would even pay for, a useful artificial intelligence solution, according to Magyar Telekom's latest research targeting micro and small businesses.

According to the summary sent to MTI on Tuesday, only 2% of respondents have never heard of artificial intelligence, 56% think they know roughly what the term means and 35% think they are familiar with it.

However, the results also show that many small business owners think of AI as any digital solution that works automatically without human intervention in some way, while in other cases they do not necessarily recognize that a solution uses AI.

The awareness of certain AI solutions is higher among managers with tertiary education and those under 50.

ChatGPT leads the field in awareness of specific applications with 23%. However, a relatively high number of 21% could not name any specific application in the field.

There are also fears about artificial intelligence. 69% of respondents fear that AI could cause small business owners to lose their jobs. However, over-dependence on technology (76%) and lack of human supervision (74%) were cited as the biggest threats.

Small business owners would use AI mainly for solutions that directly save costs or increase revenue, but less so for direct customer relationships. The vast majority of respondents believe that repetitive, tedious tasks can be automated well.

Overall, 53% of respondents see the use of AI-based applications as having a more positive impact on their business.