A survey of 800 knowledge workers across organizations with 5,000 or more employees published today finds nearly 40% believe their organization is falling behind when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence (AI), with 18% reporting their organization is actively falling behind. A total of 11% said their organization is losing deals to AI-enabled competitors.
Conducted by Unily, a provider of an employee experience management platform, the survey finds only 14% of employees believe their organization is “ahead of the curve” in AI adoption. Just over a quarter (26%) are unaware of how their organization might be using AI.
The survey also finds that only 20% believe artificial intelligence will be required for their organization to remain competitive, with 36% claiming that more AI adoption would have no impact on their company’s performance. Another 20% recognize the potential of AI, but currently fail to see its business application.
Conversely, 11% of respondents said that their companies are already losing deals to competitors, but 40% also have yet to receive any AI training.
Overall, the survey finds more than a quarter (27%) of the knowledge workers polled are eager adopters of AI, with 10% describing AI as a “game changer.” Among those that are using AI tools, 9%, however, admit they are inputting sensitive data into AI tools that their employer hasn’t sanctioned, with 11% being unsure whether they have.
In total, just under a third (32%) said they have never used an AI tool, with 10% resisting adoption unless required.
More than half of respondents (52%) said their organization has no known AI policy, with another 18% reporting that whatever policies are in place are informal. Well over half (56%) said they would use AI more if it were better integrated into their workflows, while a quarter (25%) said they would use AI tools more frequently if they understood their organization’s AI policies.
On the upside, more than half (51%) said they want to see AI be used to simplify the digital workplace, with 34% admitting they are overwhelmed by too many applications and tools.
The report makes it clear that organizations have a long way to go before they operationalize AI, says Kaz Hassan, community and market insights lead for Unily. Too many organizations are haphazardly applying AI with mixed results versus developing an actual strategy, he adds. “It’s been a bit of a false start,” says Hassan.
There’s clearly a lot of hype when it comes to AI but as more individuals become familiar with AI tools, it’s now more a question of when it will have a more profound impact on productivity and, hopefully, by extension, profitability. The challenge now is determining what AI capabilities are about to become table stakes that organizations will need to master just to stay competitive, versus a project that creates a truly sustainable advantage.
In the meantime, the more organizations expose knowledge workers to AI, the more likely it becomes the next great idea, and eventually it will become self-evident to senior business and IT leaders.
