Utilizing artificial intelligence in the non-timber forest product sector micro-enterprises

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has developed fast during the last few years and AI applications have become part of the mainstream. AI has a significant potential in boosting business processes and it’s therefore important to study how it can be utilized in the micro enterprises of the non-timber forest product (NTFP) sector. These companies are suffering from lack of time and resources, and their time is mostly spent handling operational problems. The aim of this study was to find out which factors affect the utilizing of AI in the micro-companies of the NTFP sector and how AI can be utilized to solve the known problems of the NTFP sector. AI is currently not utilized in the micro-enterprises of the NTFP sector, and no concrete plans have been made to utilize AI in the future. Typically, the companies in the sector do not recognize the benefits offered by AI and nor consider AI to be potentially beneficial to reach their goals. The organizations seemed to suffer from the lack of human and financial resources to utilize AI in their business. Overall the operational environment didn’t seem to create pressure for the companies in the NTFP sector to utilize AI. Despite all of this, AI can be utilized in the NTFP sector to solve the previously recognized problems even without any financial costs associated.