97% of CEOs Plan to Adopt AI, But Only 2% Ready: Cisco Study
Cisco, one of the world’s leading networking and security companies, released a study on Monday detailing the fears, ambitions, and actions of CEOs regarding AI. The report revealed that “97% of CEOs plan to adapt and incorporate AI into their business, but only 2% feel ready for AI”. The report surveyed more than 2,500 CEOs over 25 years of age, representing over 250 companies in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific (APAC). While most CEOs understand that AI integration is necessary, many feel that their gaps in understanding the technology are hindering growth opportunities. The study revealed that over 70% of CEOs believe that their understanding of AI hinders their ability to ask “critical questions” in the boardroom. Moreover, 58% of them “believe their understanding of AI will have a negative impact on the growth of their business over the next five years”. These CEOs also highlighted multiple other factors that hold them back from integrating AI into their businesses, including concerns about infrastructure and budget limitations, security concerns, skill gaps, and so on. About 28% of the respondents feel the potential benefits of AI have been exaggerated. While 10% of respondents revealed having no concerns about AI, only 2% said they “feel everything is in place” and are ready to integrate it. Underscoring the urgency to act, Cisco’s executive vice president and chief product officer, Jeetu Patel, said in a statement, “Eventually, there will be only two kinds of companies: those that are AI companies and those that are irrelevant.” Similarly, a majority of CEOs in the report revealed their concerns about losing their competitive edge due to infrastructure gaps and lack of investment in new technologies. Last year, a report from Menlo Ventures revealed that AI spending in enterprises saw a sixfold increase from 2023, from $2.3 billion to $13.8 billion. The report also revealed that organisations had outlined 10 potential AI use cases, and 24% of them are prioritised for implementation in the near term. Menlo surveyed 600 US enterprise IT decision-makers for the report. Organisations use generative AI in their stack to generate code, support chatbots, perform enterprise searches and more. The report also revealed that 47% of solutions in organisations are built in-house, while 53% are sourced from vendors. That said, it was also revealed that organisations are not just giving into the hype but also focusing on return on investments. “Buyers are playing the long game. They are far more focused on tools that can deliver measurable value (30%) and that understand the unique context of their work (26%) over those offering the lowest price tag (1%),” the report read.
While most CEOs understand that AI integration is necessary, many feel that their gaps in understanding the technology are hindering growth opportunities.
While most CEOs understand that AI integration is necessary, many feel that their gaps in understanding the technology are hindering growth opportunities. 
["AI (Artificial Intelligence)", "CEO", "cisco"]
["programming_languages:R", "AI", "chatbots", "CEO", "generative AI", "GAN", "R", "AI (Artificial Intelligence)", "cisco"]
["AI", "generative AI", "chatbots", "R", "GAN", "programming_languages:R"]
Supreeth is an engineering graduate who is curious about the world of artificial intelligence and loves to write stories on how it is solving problems and shaping the future of humanity.