Report: CFOs should reset expectations about AI’s impact on workforce productivity and headcount

Despite artificial intelligence’s (AI) promise for enhancing efficiency, many organizations struggle to turn investments in traditional and generative AI into material improvements in worker productivity, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. 

Gartner's survey of 724 respondents from a range of business functions, taken June through August 2024, revealed that among teams who primarily used traditional AI, 37% reported high productivity gains, while GenAI-using teams fared marginally worse at 34%. 

Several factors contribute to the limited productivity gains from AI. For example, the inflated expectations of AI's capabilities lead to disillusionment. While AI can automate certain tasks and provide valuable insights, it does not automatically translate into substantial productivity improvements across the board. Additionally, measuring productivity gains can be challenging, and implementation lags often delay the realization of benefits. 

Further, the distribution of productivity gains across functions is uneven. Marketing teams, for instance, report the highest productivity gains from AI implementation, while legal and HR functions fall behind. This disparity highlights the importance of context and the specific applications of AI within different organizational functions. 

Rather than viewing AI as a silver bullet for driving efficiency, CFOs and business leaders should reset their initial expectations about AI's impact on productivity and focus on creating the internal conditions that enable AI to deliver its full potential, according to the report. 

This involves challenging assumptions about cost or headcount savings in AI-related business cases and sensitizing C-suite and finance leaders to organizational behaviors that heighten AI's impact. By adopting a structured, explorative, and collaborative approach, organizations can position themselves to capture the productivity benefits that AI can deliver. 

“As AI and GenAI continue to evolve, their transformative promise remains undeniable. However, organizations must ground their expectations in current realities and focus on the factors that truly drive productivity gains,” researchers wrote. “By understanding the nuances of AI's impact and fostering a culture of acceptance and learning, organizations can harness AI's potential to achieve sustainable success.”