david@maier:~$

whoami

David Maier

I build software, lead teams, teach, and do research on AI at the University of Graz. Most people pick one of these. I have done all of them long enough to see how they connect.

ai-gap --region AT --sources

Using AI is easy. Getting value from it is not.

Using AI vs. getting value from it, in figures
39 %
of people in Austria used generative AI in the past year (EU: 33 %) source: Statistik Austria for OeAD, 2025
30 %
of Austrian companies (10+ staff) use any AI. Small firms 26 %, large ones 68 % source: Statistik Austria, IKT-Einsatz in Unternehmen 2025
6 %
of Austrian companies use AI in three or more business areas source: Statistik Austria, IKT-Einsatz in Unternehmen 2025
77 %
of companies without AI have never even considered it source: Statistik Austria, IKT-Einsatz in Unternehmen 2025
10 %
of Austrian companies have guidelines for how they use AI source: Statistik Austria, IKT-Einsatz in Unternehmen 2025
80 → 37 %
say AI made them personally more productive, but only 37 % see any effect on profit source: McKinsey, The state of AI in 2026

People feel faster. Organisations are not better yet. Seven in ten Austrian companies do not use AI at all, and very few use it broadly. The gap is not access to tools. It is structure, skills, data and trust.

That gap is what I work on, with what I have learned in software teams, in SAP projects, in innovation management and in research.

Why now

On ChatGPT came out. I had just started a part-time master's in innovation management next to my job. I tried ChatGPT in the first days and knew it would change how software is built, how companies work and how people learn. In 2024 I went all in: full-time on the master's, then straight into research.

ls -l ~