Four out of ten Spaniards would prefer to remove themselves from the responsibility of making decisions so that they are adopted by artificial intelligence. The percentage increases slightly, to 45%, in the case of company heads in Spain, according to an Oracle report, The decision dilemma, in which more than 14,000 workers and business leaders from 17 countries participated. 73% consider that the number of decisions they have to make every day has increased tenfold in three years.
According to this study, the vast majority of Spaniards, 82%, consider that the large volume of data available makes it very difficult to make decisions in their daily lives, both personal and professional. 59% admit that at least once a day they doubt the decision they need to make.
Another large percentage, 81%, explain that the inability to make decisions has a negative impact on their quality of life. The report notes that this causes spikes in anxiety in 43% of people, loss of opportunities in 25% and unnecessary expenses in 19%.
As a result of this phenomenon, the abundance of data, 94% of the people surveyed stated that the last three years had changed how they make decisions. As a result, 39% now only consult sources they trust, while 26% say they trust their own intuition.
Despite the frustration caused by the large amount of information available, Spaniards point out that in the absence of data decisions would be less accurate, according to 47%, less correct for 20% and more subject to errors for 39% .
The lead author of the report is data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, author of books such as Don't Trust Your Intuition, who says after preparing this work that “people are drowning in a sea of data ". "This study - he explains - highlights that the overwhelming amount of information that a person receives in a normal day (internet searches, news alerts, spontaneous comments from friends) is often more than the brain is prepared to handle" .
The author believes that "people feel the temptation to ignore confusing and sometimes discrepant data to simply do what seems right to them. But this can be a big mistake." Stephens-Davidowitz states that "it has been proven time and time again that our instincts can lead us down the wrong path and the best decision-making involves a proper understanding of the relevant data."
84% claim that they have suffered stress due to decision-making and that, for this reason, they have felt guilty or questioned some of the resolutions they had to adopt in the last year.
A very large volume of respondents, 7 out of 10 business leaders, admit that the large amount of data available to them every day and the lack of trust they have has prevented them from making a decision. 88% believe that the increase in available information sources has hindered the success of their organization.
Practically all of them, 99% of these bosses, think that if they had a "decision-making intelligence" it would be decisive for achieving the company's objectives. 77% feel that the dashboards and charts that are used in their organizations on a regular basis are not related to the decisions they ultimately have to make and seven out of ten are convinced that the data available is only really useful in the hands of information technology professionals or data scientists.
