A new report from IBM finds that although the UK is third behind the US and China in hothousing AI start-ups, business adoption of AI is trailing behind competitors in Europe.

Only one-third of UK companies have accelerated their use of AI over the past two years, compared with a European average of 49%. At the same time, more than one-third (36%) of UK companies have reined in AI investments, versus an average of 27% across Europe.

Italy, Spain, France, and Germany all lead the UK in adopting AI, according to the IBM Global AI Adoption Index. The main reason for the UK’s poor performance is a lack of AI skills, says IBM, which surveyed over 7,500 IT decision-makers globally.

Meanwhile, a second report this week suggests that the ‘gold rush’ of AI patents is slowing. Analysis from intellectual property specialists Marks & Clerk finds that the pace of new AI filings at the European Pattern Office (EPO) has slowed to 24 percent from 45 percent in 2017.

The US and Europe are the largest filers of European patents, followed by China (fast rising up the rankings) and Japan. However, on a per capita basis, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has become the world’s largest AI patent applicant.

According to the report, AI applications in manufacturing and industrial settings are on the rise, while voice-based innovations are beginning to decline in popularity.

Despite this, voice data platform Red Box claims that AI is now superior to most human beings at analysing conversations and reading emotions.

However, close analysis of claims made in a new report from the company, Being Human: How and Why Machines are Learning the Art of Human Conversation, finds that less than one-third (30 percent) of the 801 UK technology leaders surveyed believe that is currently the case.

Meanwhile, technology and investment analysts CB Insights find that investments in AI for the healthcare sector have fallen quarter on quarter by 32 percent.

CB Insights has also published its AI 100 for 2022 this week, its annual survey of the world’s most promising start-ups and private AI companies.

Researchers selected the 100 from a list of over 7,000 vendors based on R&D activity, proprietary scoring, market potential, business relationships, investor profile, sentiment analysis, competition, team strength, and tech novelty.

Nearly one-third of the companies are working on AI lifecycle management, while 43 percent have industry-specific offerings. Many others have cross-cutting applications, says the company.