The AI Paradox:
Why Only 10% of Executives Are Seeing Results From AI
A Global Study with Key Executive Insights
AI is More Than Automation—It's Innovation
Most businesses are stuck using AI to automate the mundane.
Discover how to unlock its full potential and drive true business transformation.
Executive Summary
There is a gap between AI deployment and its true potential
Our study results reveal a stark reality. In today’s race to adopt AI, many companies are deploying tools and solutions that offer incremental improvements. Most executives believe AI will radically impact their business, yet most businesses are merely focusing on broad, light-touch productivity improvements. Only 10% of companies are using Al to augment major processes meaningfully.
Deployment alone is not the right objective. Its benefits are limited, unless it leads to significant new value and lasting differentiation.
AI is not just a technological upgrade—it is a systemic change that requires a strategy touching every part of the organization. Majority of businesses today fail to deploy Al in a way that creates customer value, competitive advantage and lasting differentiation.
Companies must embrace a strategic and systematic approach to maximize impact from Al.
Instead of fragmented attempts at piloting and experimenting with AI, brands and businesses need to approach it like developing a new muscle. They should adopt a systemic AI strategy that strengthens their competitive advantage, reshapes how they deliver value to consumers, and establishes enduring brand differentiation.
AI is Revolutionizing the world
AI is the most disruptive force in history
AI could be more profound than both fire and electricity
The rapid rise of artificial intelligence marks a pivotal moment in business history, ushering us from the computer era that shaped modern work—and the industrial era before that—into a new age led by artificial intelligence.
While much of the focus on AI in business revolves around its role in automation, productivity and tool adoption, this report highlights AI’s most transformative superpower: creating genuine, lasting value for customers.
AI-driven value creation is the future of business, and its power lies in meeting specific customer needs with precision. By examining the demand landscape within the broader context of customers’ lives, AI moves beyond simple automation, reshaping how brands understand, serve and interact with their customers and consumers. This shift enables businesses to solve for the customer while unlocking new growth opportunities by meeting their evolving needs with greater accuracy. Achieving this requires a deep understanding of workflows and the specific contexts in which customer needs emerge. AI must focus on areas where customer processes can be optimized, where competitors fall short, and where there’s potential to deliver unique value—creating a sustainable competitive advantage in the process.
AI’s potential reaches far beyond operational improvements. It offers the chance to reinvent organizations and rethink how they deliver value. By redefining competition and challenging traditional business models, companies can unlock growth and break free from old competitive constraints. However, are businesses overestimating AI’s short-term value while underestimating its long-term impact?
Our study suggests they are.
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The Gap Between AI Deployment and Potential
Our study reveals that companies have been slow to take meaningful action
The transformative potential of AI is evident across industries, from automotive to healthcare, with both enthusiasm and concerns around job displacement, ethics, and inclusivity. Many executives today claim they invest in AI and they acknowledge the significance of AI to their business.
However, top names across industries are starting to question the impact of AI, skeptical of its investment to value payoff. And the fear that AI is just a hype is creeping in – 51% of experts we heard from say AI is currently overhyped.
AI deployment investments are not delivering expected results
While two-thirds believe AI will radically transform how their business functions in the next three years, only one in six have taken steps to innovate their business model accordingly
High adoption rates, yet emerging skepticism begs the question – why is AI investment not producing the transformation business leaders are expecting?
The reality: Most companies have yet to understand how to harness AI’s real potential, often limiting themselves to small-scale experiments and limited scope of action.
Despite high adoption, most businesses limit themselves to narrow AI applications
Businesses and brands are mostly using AI for surface-level efficiency gains, adding tools and automating tasks to boost worker productivity, but few are leveraging it to drive truly transformative change.
Internal barrier, competing priorities, resistance to change stall progress
86% of businesses reported facing cultural barriers and lack of organizational readiness to AI adoption. Additionally, half cited a lack of familiarity with AI, while one-third struggled with competing priorities.
Our study reveals that companies have been slow to take meaningful action
Though business leaders see the urgency of AI, their efforts remain fragmented and superficial.
Our research is clear: most companies are fumbling with uncoordinated AI adoption efforts. Despite heavy investment and hard work, they’re reaping little reward—merely the illusion of progress.
AI is a strategic
imperative for every business
If every company chases the same shallow AI goals—efficiency gains, basic automation, and a bid to stand out—they’ll achieve the opposite: they’ll fade into a sea of sameness wih their industry, just barely keeping up.
Like any important initiative, AI adoption requires a clear strategy and understanding of how it creates real value for the business and for the customers. Why not AI?
To close this gap between AI deployment today and its true potential, companies and brands must move on:
- Beyond focus on basic efficiency savings.
- Beyond uncoordinated efforts.
- Beyond tools, pilots and experimentation.
- Beyond the barriers and roadblocks.
Most leaders are stuck on AI as a tool — the real value is still beyond their sight. Some can’t even imagine its true power, and by the time they do, it may be too late for their business.
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Navigating the Stages of AI Deployment
When it comes to AI some businesses lead and others simply follow
Our study revealed AI adoption happens at three levels. Vivaldi’s AI Adoption Pyramid provides a framework for companies to deploy AI at three levels: Improving single tasks, Optimizing entire processes, Enabling interactions and networks.
The ultimate goal is to ensure that AI is not a standalone tool but a fundamental part of the business strategy that enhances core interactions, drives brand strength, and creates long-term customer value.
AI Value Pyramid - Level 1
The most frequently cited use case for AI adoption is achieving productivity gains of 25–40%.
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The Value Creation Window
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Capturing the AI Advantage
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Keys to AI Advantage
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About Vivaldi