Only 4% of companies adopting artificial intelligence reap full value from the technology, according to new data from Boston Consulting Group. 

In a report, BCG noted that their biggest gains come from upgrading business processes such as operations, sales and marketing, and research and development. 

Companies adopting AI face the most difficult challenges when gauging return on investment, prioritizing opportunities and justifying the build-out of initial forays into the technology, BCG said in the study. To maximize the odds of success, they need to focus most of their resources on employee-related AI integration. 

“When companies undertake digital or AI transformations, they need to focus two-thirds of their effort and resources on people-related capabilities and the other third or so split between technology and algorithms,” Amanda Luther, a BCG partner and co-author of the study, said in a statement. 

The share of companies worldwide that are at least experimenting with AI has surged this year to 98% from 47% in 2023, BCG found in a survey of 1,000 CXOs and other senior executives across 20 industries and 59 countries. 

In the U.S., generative AI has spread across a broad range of professions since its debut less than two years ago, with 28% of workers now using the technology on the job, according to a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. 

Twenty-four percent of workers use generative AI at least once each week and one out of every nine turn to it daily, researchers said in what they call the first survey gauging the extent of the technology’s use in the U.S. workplace and home. 

Generative AI usage rates exceed 40% among people in management, business and computer occupations, according to the researchers, including an economic policy advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Still roughly 20% of workers without a college degree also regularly use the technology on the job, they said. 

In addition to the 4% of companies that have generated significant value from AI, 22% have implemented an AI strategy and built advanced capabilities have begun to yield substantial gains, BCG said, designating the two groups as “AI leaders.” 

AI leaders derive 62% of the value from the technology through improving core business processes, BCG said. They tend to make twice the investment and double the staff allocation in digital transformation and have scaled up twice as many AI solutions as companies less committed to the technology, BCG said. 

In turn, AI leaders expect 60% higher AI-driven revenue growth and 50% more in cost cuts than companies less focused on the technology. 

Companies most active in adopting AI also channel 70% of their resources into their employees and processes, 20% into the technology and 10% into the AI algorithms, according to BCG. 

AI leaders have been quick to adopt generative AI, opening up fresh approaches to content creation, qualitative reasoning and orchestration of business systems, BCG said. 

“The cost of inaction is high, especially against the backdrop of leading organizations setting highly ambitious targets with AI and anticipating nearly 50% greater cost reduction and 60% higher revenue growth versus laggards,” Lukic said.