52% of US workers are already using AI on the job. That number should read like positive news for AI. it isn’t.
Follow it further and the picture gets murkier: 93% of enterprises say their production capabilities have improved.
76% of leaders say AI is delivering real business value. Everyone in the room feels like it’s working.
Then check the PnL.
57% of enterprises say AI ROI still isn’t outpacing spend.
Only 7% of global leaders call their ROI “established.”
Only 39% of CEOs can point to a tangible, positive outcome.
Individual adoption is running way ahead of organizational impact. People at their desks are getting faster and sharper, and none of it is rolling up into anything the company can see or re-invest.
Add to that a new resistance wave: People were okay with assistive AI helping them craft better emails or write first drafts. They are increasingly opposed to agents where they feel tokens replace their value as workers.
I’ve watched this pattern before, just never at this speed.
Individuals get faster but the business doesn’t get better.
For leaders this is starting to squeeze the PnL.
Especially as the AI companies increase their prices (usage rather than subscription).
Gross Margin is getting squeezed. Net Profit is getting squeezed. And who wins in all of this is still really unclear.
As a business leader, you want to be a fast follower.
You want to connect the needs of your organization with proven use cases to help those workflows deliver more value.
Need more leads? If you’re clear on your customer, a harness like perplexity can get you a series of high value leads extremely quickly (See the Next New Thing AI Podcast on Youtube for how we do this https://hubs.ly/Q04txkQ50).
Perhaps you need to stand up bespoke software to work around how you already to the forecasting process.
That’s what one of our clients needs. We mapped the process, understand what information was required and stood up a dashboard so they could execute the process.
The irony is there was AI in unpacking the process. There was AI use in building the bespoke dashboard. There was AI in creating the SOP.
But there is only a TINY bit of AI in the final solution.
As we’re finding this more and more. The solution doesn’t always involve AI integration.
But it always benefits from AI as we unpack the challenge and rewire/reimagine the workflow.
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These are the kind of important gaps we address in our monthly State of AI sessions. We are your filter of the AI noise. You leave knowing what matters to your business.
Our next session is next Monday. August 24. 4 PM AT.
