22 AlixPartners Disruption Index 2023
KEY FINDING #4
Artificial intelligence is still the hot, new thing-but most
businesses don't know what to do with it.
At virtually every company, AI and machine learning (ML) have surged
to the top of the list of technologies people are thinking about. As AI
and ML roll out, efficiency is the first play executives say they will make,
but a sole focus on jobs limits the vision for what AI can do. The bigger
impact from AI will be in revenue generation and value protection-and
in the data you can see hints of that.
Though AI is by no means new, its emergence as a
mainstream business technology has happened very fast.
Perhaps that is why only 21% of executives-just over one
in five-give their companies an "A" grade for how well they
address it. (By comparison, about 30% give themselves
top marks for using agile tools and techniques, and about
half award themselves an "A" for cybersecurity, cloud, and
enterprise resource management.)
Much attention from the mainstream media and other
analyses has been placed on the increased productivity
potential from AI. In this year's AlixPartners Disruption
Index survey of 3,000 global business executives, nearly
half of respondents told us they need to leverage technology
to increase productivity in the face of ongoing worker
shortages, and nearly as many said they still encounter
a skills gap when trying to recruit. As technical advances
gather pace and investments swell (generative AI saw over
$15 billion invested in the first 6 months of 2023 alone), AI
may prove a major piece of this workforce puzzle.
This focus on productivity, though, leads to speculation on
the impact on employment, which is reflected in the data
from the survey. On average, 29% of respondents said they
expected to reduce their workforce as a result of AI within
the next 36 months, with growth leaders significantly more
likely to do so.
give their companies
an A grade for how well
they address it
of executives say AI will be
extremely or very important
to their industry
75% 21%
DO YOU EXPECT TO REDUCE YOUR WORKFORCE DUE TO
LEVERAGING AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) including Generative AI?
46%GROWTH LEADERS
18%RETAIL 33%INDUSTRIALS 29%TMT
By industry
but only