Artificial Intelligence and Operational Performance of Selected Service Organisations in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a multidisciplinary field that stand in the edges of knowledge and that pervades every aspect of modern human life. Today, several puzzles of everyday life, including business are being unravelled by AI. Generally, AI enables the performance of tasks that up to now requires human intelligence by providing computer system with autonomy and less and less interference by humans or monitoring. Yet prediction is a basic tenet of AI. As the cost of prediction is lowered, a lot remains unclear about what cheap prediction portends to decision making. There is need to consider the impact that AI has on economic growth with a bias for operations and firm level economic activity. In this light, the study sought to establish the extent of AI adoption and the effects of AI on performance of selected service firms in Nairobi, Kenya. It adopted a descriptive research design approach targeting 30 firms that have adopted AI. Owing to the nascent stage at which AI is in Kenya currently, purposive sampling was relied on, posting a 73% response rate. The study found that AI techniques are deployed ‘to a small extent’, pointing to already installed technologies whose full potential is not being exploited. In addition, AI have an impact on the operational performance of service firms. However, from the regression model, the variables with the most significant impact on performance are machine learning, targeted advertising and natural language processing. The study recommends reskilling to bridge the knowledge and skills gap relating to AI and data science, a raft of policies that stimulate rather than stifle AI technology transfer, the development of a framework for Open Data and standards for both government and private sector data, including ‘federated access’ and data ‘watermarking’.