IBM study: Three in five CEOs push to adopt gen AI but are employees being left behind?

CEOs are facing workforce, culture and governance challenges as they act quickly to implement and scale generative AI across their organisations, according to a new study by the IBM.

The study found that almost two-thirds (64%) of those surveyed say succeeding with generative AI will depend more on people’s adoption than the technology itself. However, 61% of respondents say they are pushing their organisation to adopt generative AI more quickly than some people are comfortable with. 

The findings also revealed that nearly two-thirds (63%) of surveyed CEOs say their teams have the skills and knowledge to incorporate generative AI, but few understand how generative AI adoption impacts their organisation’s workforce and culture.

More than half (56%) of respondents have not yet assessed the impact of generative AI on their employees. Yet, 51% of CEOs surveyed say they are hiring for generative AI roles that did not exist last year, while 47% expect to reduce or redeploy their workforce in the next 12 months because of generative AI. 

“There is incredible excitement around generative AI, and CEOs want to move beyond the AI hype to deliver business impact. Yet, without the right people and culture in place, progress will be slow,” IBM Consulting global managing partner, Matt Candy said.

“As they embed generative AI in their enterprise strategy, it’s critical that executives build a cultural mindset that fosters adoption and lead people through the changes.”