Generative AI hype and hopes have executives across industries eager to get started. A lack of in-house expertise and AI-readiness are likely to derail them despite planned investments. Credit: Shutterstock / Gorodenkoff Overwhelming majorities of executives around the world are planning to spend money on generative AI this year, but very few are truly ready for the technology, according to a survey released today by the Boston Consulting Group. Fully 85% of the more than 1,400 executives surveyed for BCG’s AI Radar report said that they were planning to invest in generative AI, but the report found that the technology faces a wide array of stumbling blocks at most organizations. Nearly two-thirds (62%) said their firms were waiting to see how new regulations around AI use develop, while 74% said that substantive change management would be needed to help cope with the advent of generative AI. An average of 46% of the survey respondents’ workforces will need additional training, while almost 60% said that their C-suite had limited or no expertise with the technology. According to BCG’s report, comparatively few, just 19%, of executives are focusing on costs of use, which the researchers said “has serious long-term implications,” while most respondents said they were more focused on performance, quality, and data protection issues. Vladimir Lukic, head of BCG’s tech and digital advantage practice, said that, despite these clear stumbling blocks, the headlong rush to adopt generative AI is likely a good thing for a lot of businesses. In essence, he said, the headline-grabbing nature of the technology looks to be an effective catalyst, forcing organizations to confront and address technical and ethical issues around AI adoption. “It’s just a wonderful catalyst to put the AI topics on the table,” he said. “It forces conversations like ‘what kind of data stores do we have,’ and ‘what can we really do with them?’” In terms of the workforce required, Lukic said companies should be looking to hire data managers, data engineers, and legal and risk management staff with specific knowledge of generative AI, though this can be easier said than done. “There’s very few legal folks who have expertise in this area,” he noted. Nevertheless, generative AI is an area where C-suites can effectively lead from the front, Lukic said. The companies experiencing the most early progress with generative AI are the ones where executives clearly have the technology as a major item on the agenda. “It comes down to whether it’s top of mind and whether it’s an agenda item for the CEO and leadership,” he said. Related content news Zoho updates its collaboration tools to help with asynchronous work Zoho is focusing on AI, automation, and personalization with solutions customized for specific industries. By Lynn Greiner Jun 06, 2024 1 min Project Management Analytics Artificial Intelligence case study Key considerations to cancer institute’s gen AI deployment End users at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute saw the possibilities for generative AI use cases soon after the technology emerged. But adopting it required careful thought about safety, security, and especially governance. By Maria Korolov Jun 06, 2024 8 mins CIO Healthcare Industry IT Governance Frameworks feature Unauthorized AI is eating your company data, thanks to your employees Legal documents, HR data, source code, and other sensitive corporate information is being fed into unlicensed, publicly available AIs at a swift rate, leaving IT leaders with a mounting shadow AI mess. By Grant Gross Jun 06, 2024 7 mins Generative AI Data Governance Data Management feature Refactoring your IT sourcing strategy for digital success Zurich North America COO Barry Perkins shares how tech chiefs can repatriate skills and hone digital prowess by rethinking the onshore, nearshore, and offshore composition of their global workforce. By Michael Bertha and Ishan Prakash Jun 06, 2024 6 mins Digital Transformation IT Strategy Outsourcing PODCASTS VIDEOS RESOURCES EVENTS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe