Majority of CEOs report zero payoff from AI splurge

"Only 12 percent reported both lower costs and higher revenue, while 56 percent saw neither benefit. Twenty-six percent saw reduced costs, but nearly as many experienced cost increases. AI adoption remains limited. Even in top use cases like demand generation (22 percent), support services (20 percent), and product development (19 percent), only a minority are deploying AI extensively. Last year, a separate PwC study found that only 14 percent of workers indicated they were using generative AI daily in their work."

"Despite the CEOs' repsonses, PwC concludes more investment is required. It claims that "isolated, tactical AI projects" often don't deliver measurable value, and that tangible returns instead come from enterprise-wide deployments consistent with business strategy. However, pilot projects are by their very nature typically small scale and isolated in order to demonstrate the viability of a concept before risking an enterprise-wide rollout. Is PwC advising clients not to worry if an AI pilot project fails, and push ahead with a large-scale deployment anyway?"

More than half of CEOs report seeing neither increased revenue nor decreased costs from AI despite massive investment and a large survey of 4,454 business leaders. Only 12 percent reported both lower costs and higher revenue, while 56 percent saw neither benefit. Adoption remains limited even in leading use cases such as demand generation (22 percent), support services (20 percent), and product development (19 percent). A separate study found only 14 percent of workers used generative AI daily. Recommendations call for greater investment, enterprise-wide deployments aligned with business strategy, and strong AI foundations including technology environments, roadmaps, risk processes, and supportive organizational culture. Research in August found only 5 percent of enterprises have implemented AI at scale.

Read at Theregister