An investigation into the profits and costs of artificial intelligence in Italian companies [P1] Italian companies that have invested in artificial intelligence (AI) are able to waste enormous amounts of money on staff, but also achieve significant results. This is a reality born almost all in the last ten years, which today invests on skills and waits for returns. The photo is triggered by the first map of the sector, created by the University of Padua and InfoCamere for the Digitalmeet festival and presented in the Senate on initiative of Senatorate Antonio De Poli. [P2] The median cost of working in AI-focused companies is 256 thousand euros, against 147 thousand euros in the control group, while the median added value is 237 thousand euros, against 158 thousand euros (+28.3%).

Even work productivity, measured as added value per employee, is higher: 50,4 thousand euros against 45,9 thousand, 9.8% more. The research links the highest cost of work to an 'employment of highly qualified professional figures remunerated'. The comparison should be read with the age of the companies. 92.7% of AI-focused companies is registered under less than ten years; only 1.4% exceed the age of three decades of activity.

It refers mostly to reality in the early stages, for which the cost of highly qualified personnel can be read as an investment, with expected returns in terms of added value over time. [P3] A trajectory that the accounts already show: between 2020 and 2024, the median production has risen by 124.2%, and the median added value by 139.4%. The coordinator of the research, Paolo Gubitta, defines the differences emerged from the accounts 'remarkable' and indicates the need to 'deepen the organizational determinants'. Capital human is indicated by the research as the main obstacle to development: Italy counts 31.6% of graduates between 25 and 34 years old, against the 44.1% of the EU average.