Investment in generative AI is increasing, but the clock is ticking to scale and create value, according to the results of a recent Deloitte survey of thousands of director to C-suite level respondents at companies around the world.
The Deloitte AI Institute’s Q3 edition of its State of Generative AI in the Enterprise report exploring the current landscape of GenAI deployment shows critical areas of focus for organizations are data foundations and governance, risk, and compliance.
“As promising experiments and use cases begin to pay off, it’s clear that we have arrived at a pivotal moment for generative AI, balancing leaders’ high expectations with challenges such as data quality, investment costs, effective measurement and an evolving regulatory landscape,” said Jim Rowan, Applied AI leader and principal, Deloitte Consulting LLC.
“Our Q3 survey has revealed that now more than ever, change management and deep organizational integration are critical to overcoming barriers, unlocking value and building for the future of GenAI,” Rowan said.
Key takeaways
- Two-thirds of respondents (67%) report their organization is increasing its investment in GenAI due to strong value to date.
- Data, scaling and risk challenges are limiting options and tempering leadership enthusiasm for GenAI. Although interest remains “high” or “very high” among most senior executives (63%) and boards (53%) it has dropped 11 percentage points and eight percentage points, respectively, since Deloitte’s Q1 survey.
- While selecting and quickly scaling the GenAI projects with the most potential to create value is the goal, many GenAI efforts are still at the pilot or proof-of-concept stage, with a large majority of respondents (68%) saying their organization has moved 30% or fewer of their GenAI experiments fully into production.
- Demonstrating the value of GenAI deployments to the C-suite will be critical for continued investment. The majority (54%) of organizations are seeking efficiency and productivity improvements, but only 38% are tracking changes in employee productivity.
- A shifting regulatory landscape is causing many companies to walk a tightrope to minimize risk. Three of the top four reported barriers to successful GenAI deployment are risk-related, including worries about regulatory compliance (36%); difficulty managing risks (30%); and lack of a governance model (29%).
- To demonstrate GenAI value, organizations are using specific key performance indicators for evaluating GenAI performance (48%) and building a framework for evaluating GenAI investments (38%).
