WSJ Tech Council Summit: Executives Say Most Companies Aren't Seeing Returns from AI Investments

Dow Jones
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The majority of people who use artificial intelligence are seeing value in the nascent technology when it comes to improving their productivity and completing everyday tasks.

For most chief financial officers though, that value isn't translating to their company's top or bottom lines.

"The reality is, no, most people are not getting value from (artificial intelligence)," said Kate Smaje, senior partner and global leader of technology and AI at McKinsey & Co., on Tuesday at The Wall Street Journal's Technology Council Summit.

Roughly 80% of AI users said the technology has improved their personal productivity. However, just 37% of CFOs said the technology has provided a measurable uplift to earnings before interest and taxes, according to Smaje.

"And by the way, (that number) has not moved in the last 12 months or so," she added.

Taking it a step further, only 6% or so of those executives said AI has provided real value, capable of moving investor sentiment, Smaje said.

Still, executives said the numbers need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Glean Chief Executive Arvind Jain said he works with many large enterprises, and "there is no question...that AI is a net positive force for them."

AI investments are generating a lot of returns, Jain said. Those returns are hard to measure, meaning most of are slipping through the cracks when it comes to financial reporting.

There are certain functions, such as customer service and contract-review processes, where AI's return on investment is being felt at a very dramatic scale, according to Jain.

"You never had sharp metrics to begin with in those tasks," he said. "So, even though you're doing them better now, you can't actually directly come up with a dollar value."

 
 

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