Executives Signal Caution Toward Generative AI

Are executives backing away from personally use generative AI tools? The latest “pulse” survey out of Accenture seems to suggest that, recording a large drop in personal AI usage by business leaders themselves. However, they remain bullish on investing in AI for the rest of their organizations.

Only 35% of C-suite leaders claim to be personally using generative AI tools at least once per week, down from 61% just six months ago, the survey, conducted in April, shows.

Still, 85% of executives intend to boost their overall investments in generative AI for their organizations. While only 10% have scaled generative AI in a big way, at least half (50%) believe their organizations will fully scale generative AI enterprise-wide within the next 6 to 12 months.

With increasing amounts of money flowing back and forth, and the risks of relying on machine-generated insights growing, caution has become the watchword. At this point, only 13% of executives are “extremely confident” they have the right data strategy and core digital capabilities in place to effectively leverage generative AI.

After a period of fascination and experimentation with generative AI, executives are recognizing that with great power comes great responsibility — tools such as AI require caution and understanding.

“C-suite leaders recognize two things,” says Manish Sharma, CEO of Accenture North America. “One, that they themselves need to understand gen AI and, two, that there is a need for widespread gen AI training across the organization.”

They “are acknowledging the need for deeper learning with AI,” Sharma continues. “It’s time to move beyond testing and a focus on productivity — for themselves and for their organizations.”

Ultimately, any skepticism of AI is a healthy thing at this stage. “Executives have questions, and that’s good. It shows their interest,” says Sharma. “They want to see the ROI, and that’s a good thing, it shows proper stewardship. They want to understand what it takes to implement it – and that’s a good thing because the answer is ensuring a solid digital core for the business, which set enterprises up as strong and ready to pivot with each innovation.”

Does this also suggest that generative AI has passed its “gee-whiz” stage, and is now perched to slide into the so-called “trough of disillusionment?” Not quite, Sharma believes. “There is a near-universal recognition now of the importance of generative AI,” he says. “Use of gen AI at scale varies – those with a strong digital core are moving quickly. No matter where companies are in the of adoption, all strategies continue to lead to technology and reinvention.”

Accenture itself, with 400,000 employees worldwide, is embracing AI in a big way, Sharma adds. AI is “transforming how we run our business. For example, Microsoft Copilot has made our people more efficient, and 55% have told us they noticed an improvement in the quality of their work. Over half report saving at least 30 minutes a day using Copilot and several observed up to three hours of time saved per day. This frees people up to do more meaningful work, more efficiently.”

So, full steam ahead with AI, but keep an eye on the road ahead.