Trend barometer

AI in Companies: Already Indispensable or Still Underutilized?

• How extensively are AI tools being used in companies and by their leaders in their daily work, and

• to what extent do they expect the leadership culture in their companies to change through their use?

Leaders Have Mixed Feelings About AI Usage

This is what the Institute for Leadership Culture in the Digital Age (IFIDZ) wanted to know from the participating leaders in its latest Leadership Trend Barometer. The online survey of 275 leaders (Germany: 173; Switzerland: 54; Austria: 48) from various industries revealed that most of them have an ambivalent relationship with AI usage in their company as well as in their own daily work.

Leaders Consider AI Usage as Important for Future Success…

While 80 percent of the surveyed leaders believe that professional AI use in their industry will play a crucial role in future success, only 22 percent of them use such AI tools as ChatGPT, Deepl, and Copilot almost daily.

… they are rather hesitant to push for AI Adoption.

Moreover, only 21 percent of them actively advocate for a stronger use of AI technology in their work environment. This corresponds to the fact that only 26.3 percent of the leaders feel centrally responsible for stimulating AI usage in their area of responsibility. Most of them feel only somewhat responsible for this, which, according to the IFIDZ, indicates a “significant engagement deficit” of leaders in the AI sector.

The Topic of AI Already Plays a Role in Strategic Planning

This contradicts the fact that

• 46 percent of leaders state that their companies already offer training to support AI integration, and

• over 40 percent express that the topic of AI already plays an important role in their strategic planning.

The Middle Management Often Lacks Necessary Orientation

The often inconsistent statements of leaders in the survey show, according to the IFIDZ, that many of them currently approach the topic of AI usage in their area and daily work rather hesitantly and less systematically – also because there is still no consensus or alignment in their company on how to deal with this future topic. Corresponding strategic guidelines are also lacking.

Leaders Expect Job Loss Due to AI Usage

As reasons for their relatively low engagement for a stronger use of AI, the leaders cite, among other things, concerns about data protection that exist in their organization. They also see a risk that increased AI usage could lead to job losses in the medium term – especially if it leads to intensified automation of certain tasks and processes.

About 20 percent even feel somewhat threatened by this, among other reasons, because with a potentially decreasing number of employees, fewer leaders will also be needed.

Would you like more information about the results of the Leadership Trend Barometer April 2024? If so, please call us at (Tel. 0611/2366 8936) or send us an email.