Report: Most IT leaders like their chances against AI risks

Even as AI’s risks become clearer for enterprises, leaders show signs of confidence as adoption expands, a TeamViewer report said based on data collected by Sapio Research. 

Two-thirds of leaders believe in their organization’s ability to manage AI-related risks, such as data management, skill gaps and shadow AI, according to the survey of 1,400 IT and business decision-makers.  

Nearly 7 in 10 leaders feel at least competent using AI, while only 3% admit to lacking know-how. More than three-quarters of decision-makers use AI at least once a week, with more than one-third of those turning to the technology every day.  

Technology leaders are aware of adoption barriers and risks of enterprise AI. But some decision-makers are feeling more comfortable with their teams’ skills after two years of experimentation, best-practice gathering and trial-and-error. 

“It’s part and parcel of the C-level role to lead with confidence and to take the necessary steps to mitigate any risks, so it isn’t a surprise that this group is positive in its capabilities to do just that,” Robert Haist, CISO at TeamViewer, said in the report. “While AI has moved past the hype phase, there is still a lot of experimenting and fine-tuning to be done.” 

As enterprises progress on initiatives and modernize their tech foundations in preparation for more AI workloads, leaders have turned to a growing field of vendors and solutions to solve the technology’s drawbacks.  

Mitigating risks as AI use cases scale is vital for businesses. Gartner predicts that enterprises that invest in tools for AI privacy, security and risk will experience 35% more revenue growth than those that don’t, but these tools do come at a cost. An enterprise spending spike of more than 15% is expected as leaders allocate resources to secure AI, such as access management and governance enforcement.  

Even with tighter controls, CIOs can’t throw caution to the wind. Some vendors have overpromised and under-delivered on their AI capabilities, requiring enterprise-led due diligence. 

Despite growing adoption, most leaders have drawn the line at trusting AI to forecast business scenarios, aid in decision-making or take action without human oversight, according to the TeamViewer report. 

“I believe that one day in the near future we’ll have truly agentic AI,” Mei Dent, chief product and technology officer at TeamViewer, said in the report. “However, at present, I don’t think the technology is mature enough for complex actions to be successfully taken without any human oversight.” 

Nearly 2 in 5 leaders cited lacking education as the top barrier to adoption, followed by high implementation costs, perceived security or legal risks and increased employee stress or frustration, according to the TeamViewer report.  

Decision-makers see some roadblocks as less formidable than others. Just 11% say security concerns prevent them from using AI.