In September, the German Printing Industry Association (BVDM) hosted its annual Print & Media Congress. As usual, presentations focused on the hottest topics in print this year and AI and bureaucracy were on the agenda. With the German Minister of Justice, the conference had a prominent speaker on bureaucracy. However, most of the other presentations centered on AI.

The somewhat surprising answer by Kirsten Hommelhoff, head of BVDM for the print industry is: “AI is overrated.” This is at odds with the main message at Bernd Zipper’s Online Print Symposium this year, which is oddly enough co-hosted by the BVDM. Bernd Zipper just held another AI bootcamp to explore AI uses for the print industry. The gap between excitement and disinterest on AI is reflected in many comments I received in recent months. The view of the BVDM is certainly echoed in the AI adoption data.

Following a general survey of the German manufacturing industries, the BVDM quizzed their members on the planned and current uptake of AI in a recent survey. Both surveys are not directly comparable but the differences are striking. Only a small share of all manufacturing companies have not considered adopting AI, while in print a whopping 41% have no uses and plans for AI.