In 2023, roughly 14 percent of people in Germany said they would find a customer service chatbot useful for flights and hotels, as well as utility services. 32 percent of people were not interested in the help of a chatbot. The rise of chatbots ChatGPT was launched in November 2022, and although chatbots existed prior, it was the first one that allowed users to dictate the length, and style of, as well as direct a conversation. Since this AI technology is so versatile, there are many different purposes for which it can be used. For example, some people use the software to help them understand complex theories they are learning for their studies, whilst others ask the chatbot to plan their meals for the week. Almost 63 percent of ChatGPT users were aged 18 to 34 in 2023, whilst only nine percent were over the age of 55. When it comes to creating chatbots companies are facing challenges since the technology is new and highly complex. For most companies, the biggest difficulty is data management. This is due to the fact that so much data is required to train AI programs and when they are used, there is also a huge amount of data generated. Commercial usage of chatbots One industry that has been using chatbots for the past couple of years is the online shopping industry. The most popular function of chatbots among online shoppers globally was searching for product information. This was also the top result for consumers in Germany, followed by customer service and sending of updates about products. However, Germany did have a lower usage rate of chatbots than the global average. Similarly, when it came to the share of those shopping online who considered chatbot customer service useful, Germany also ranked quite low, with only 12 percent of respondents stating that they found it useful. Other countries such as India, UAE, and Indonesia had a much higher uptake rate.

In 2023, the tech skill most in demand by recruiters was web development. This was closely followed by DevOps and database software skills. Interestingly, over 16 percent of recruiters were actively seeking individuals with cybersecurity skills. Not far behind, AI/Machine learning/Deep learning ranked fourth, with approximately 25 percent of respondents identifying it as their most sought-after tech skill. These preferences align with the skills that developers worldwide are keen to acquire, particularly web development and AI/Machine learning/Deep learning.

AI at the forefront of IT skills Since the release of ChatGPT in late 2022, demand for AI and automation skills has increased across all sectors. In 2023, ChatGPT was the leading technology skill globally according to topic consumption on Udemy Business, experiencing a massive growth of over 4,400 percent in global topic consumption. In the same year, over 82 percent of software developers reported using AI to help write code in the development workflow, while another 49 percent said they currently use it for debugging code.

Different languages for different needs JavaScript and Java, commonly used for back-end and front-end web development, were the most demanded programming languages worldwide in 2022, followed by SQL and Python. By industry, JavaScript and Java hold the fort in the IT services and aviation industries, while SQL was more popular in the healthcare sector as well as the marketing and advertising industries. Python, well suited for data science applications, was more commonly used in the manufacturing, education, and energy industries.