AI in Hungary could unlock productivity gains of €15 billion, McKinsey says

BUDAPEST, June 16 (Reuters) - Increased deployment of AI could unlock €15 billion ($17.42 billion)  in productivity gains in Hungary by 2030, McKinsey said on Tuesday.

AI could help Hungary close some of its productivity gap with European neighbours, the consultancy said, while warning that Hungary could fall further behind if AI adoption lags.

Following are key points from a roundtable discussion of the McKinsey report with top Hungarian executives.

* Andras Becsei, OTP Bank deputy CEO: While AI could curb human resources expenses, it could boost operating costs and capital expenditure -- meaning the overall impact could be a transformation, rather than reduction, of costs.

* Peter Nagy, Magyar Telekom deputy CEO: AI agents are handling 20% of customer calls, and that is expected to increase. AI has helped cut the time to bring new services to market to around 30 days from 90, while allowing the company to allocate half of its network monitoring staff to more complex operations.

* Gabor Orban, Richter CEO: More time is needed to see how much of the hype around AI is justified and whether the productivity gains can be unlocked. The pharma industry has seen several similar upheavals in past decades, such as genomics or digitisation, which have yet to live up to their promises.

* Gergely Bacso, Allianz Hungary CEO: Labour costs are only one part of the issue — AI is also a matter of global competition. Cost savings for a U.S. company can be several times more than what a Hungarian one could achieve. Competition will be intense and if Hungary does not act it risks losing out to foreign players for whom adopting AI is more profitable.

($1 = 0.8613 euros)

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Alexander Smith)