New research* finds that most organizations are clearly on board the AI (artificial intelligence) ship, but lack a skilled AI workforce and need a compass to help navigate these uncharted waters. Obstacles to effective implementation frequently include a lack of in-house AI skills, increasingly complex regulatory requirements, and rising ethical concerns. These factors create uncertainty that can slow AI implementation and prevent the technology from reaching its full potential. This comprehensive survey on AI in the Enterprise surveyed 600 senior IT decision makers in large companies ($500m+ revenue) across a range of industries in the US, UK, India, and Spain. The companies surveyed represent combined revenue of more than $10 trillion.
The research uncovered three significant trends:
- Clear management buy-in: AI enablement continues to be of paramount importance for large businesses, with more than half (54%) using and integrating AI throughout their organizations, nearly a third (28%) using it throughout the business but in an unstructured way, and 16% just starting to experiment with AI. Only 1% do not use AI, and have no plans to do so. Significantly, 92% say their company’s AI implementation aligns with their strategic goals, and 93% believe that AI will be an essential element of success in the next five years. However, only a small portion, 8%, said that they do not face barriers to these goals. This highlights a significant challenge despite the broad recognition of AI’s importance and strategic value: most organizations encounter significant obstacles that hinder AI implementation. Finally, approximately 9 in 10 (89%) say their organization needs to increase spending on AI implementation to keep up with its competitors.
- Lack of AI skills hampers progress: 44% described the AI implementation process as challenging, citing security concerns (40%), a shortage of in-house expertise (33%) and compliance/regulatory challenges (33%) as the top issues. The lowest-ranking barrier was “No clear understanding of the benefits” (14%), showing that there is clear consensus on the value of AI.
Looking more closely at concerns around the skills shortage, more than three quarters (76%) say there is a severe shortage of AI-skilled personnel within their organization. Consequently, almost 9 in 10 (89%) say their organization needs external guidance on how to effectively implement AI, with more than half (57%) planning to engage with external third-party AI expertise in the next three years.
Two thirds (67%) believe there are not enough external advisors focusing on AI implementation and more than a third (38%) consider external expertise less expensive than in-house. Furthermore, nearly a third (31%) lack the ability to upskill their own workforce.
- Lack of tools to navigate the complexity of ethics, regulation, and diversity concerns: 9 in 10 (91%) agree it is vital that their organization has a responsible AI framework/policy in place, however fewer than 4 in 10 (39%) consider their current approach to be “very effective”. Additionally, more than 9 in 10 believe that more regulation is required for successful and responsible AI implementation in their industry (91%) and in large companies across all industries (92%). The main reasons for this regulation should be to ensure data privacy (62%), better transparency (57%), and ethical usage (55%). Respondents say neither their government (71%) nor industry (64%) is doing enough when it comes to AI regulation.
In terms of their AI workforce, 80% say that diversity is crucial or very important. However, 32% believe their AI team is lacking diversity. In addition, 70% are concerned that this lack of diversity is leading to biased outcomes.
“AI is a truly groundbreaking technology that is already accelerating innovation across industry sectors, improving productivity, and redefining what is possible in unimaginable ways. This research paints a comprehensive picture of the myriad benefits and challenges of AI for businesses. By shining a light on the dominant hurdles to effective AI integration, we hope to help enterprises identify the right tactics and facilitate greater adoption of AI,” said Krishna Sudheendra, Chief Executive Officer, UST.
Other key findings include:
- AI spending and ROI: 1 in 20 (5%) are currently spending more than half of their technology budget on AI implementation – but almost 1 in 5 (18%) predict they will spend at this level within three years’ time. On average, organizations expect to see a return on investment in AI technology in approximately 2 years. However, almost a quarter (23%) expect this to take four or more years.
- ESG benefits of AI: Almost 9 in 10 (89%) believe AI can help their organization work toward their net zero goals and a similar proportion say that AI has significant ESG benefits (91%). Respondents believe AI improves sustainability measurements and reporting (68%), reduces carbon emissions/accelerates efforts to reach net zero (58%) and reduces resource consumption (55%).
“The absence of mature AI governance frameworks is a glaring problem that enterprises can no longer ignore. 90% of those surveyed agree that as AI becomes deeply embedded in society, robust regulations are needed to guide its development and mitigate risks. Soon, AI regulations and privacy-first AI will become essential to modern platforms, with algorithmic transparency, explainability, and risk metrics ensuring that only ethically designed AI systems earn public trust. These findings show that we must accelerate efforts to develop and implement sound AI governance policies to create a future where AI systems fulfill their potential as a powerful for the common good,” said Adnan Masood, Chief Architect – AI & Machine Learning, UST.
*commissioned by UST – AI in the Enterprise report which can be downloaded here.
