Factors enhancing AI adoption by firms. Evidence from France

In this paper, we analyze firms that participated in two waves of the French ICT survey to identify key antecedents, measured in 2018, associated with the first-time adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in 2020. The analysis shows that the presence of data security systems, ICT training for employees, and the use of websites to collect customer information are all positively associated with the likelihood of starting to use AI. The relevance of these factors varies across business functions, with notable associations observed in administrative and marketing activities. In the case of marketing, AI adoption is also linked to prior use of e-commerce and customer relationship management applications. These patterns are consistent with existing evidence suggesting that AI adoption tends to follow a hierarchical trajectory, typically preceded by the digitization of business information.