AI value is stalling but the issue isn’t the technology

The AI fever of the last few years has stalled slightly, despite companies investing mind-boggling sums in tools and infrastructure.

But the problem is not with technology itself. Many companies are focused on experimentation and expansion, with only 9% of UK organizations reaching augmentation stage, according to ServiceNow’s most recent AI Maturity Index research.

The pattern is all too often the same: after an initial wave of experimentation, companies find that early enthusiasm fails to translate into sustained usage.

For example, employees stop using AI assistants, perhaps out of fear of ‘augmenting themselves out of work’.

It’s clear that the problem here is not that AI systems do not work: it’s that the cultural foundations needed to support them are lacking. The problem of finding real value from AI is often a cultural one.

This requires careful thought to build creativity back into people’s work lives, so they can re-engineer legacy processes to take control and truly reap the benefits of AI.

By doing so, they set the stage for a whole new way of working, and a new way to grow businesses.

Losing control

A key issue is that when employees feel like they are losing control over how they work, they tend to disengage. If employees feel like they are training their replacements, or losing any sense of agency they once had, they tend to push back or revert to older processes.

This is seen most clearly in organizations that have invested heavily in AI platforms: teams try the tools, then revert to familiar processes, manual workarounds, and even back to spreadsheets. This is a cultural problem.

People’s concerns over job erosion and loss of autonomy are real, and dealing with this requires trust, new skills, and redesigned workflows. Teams must be empowered to shift to new growth-focused ways of working.

Employees need to engage creative muscles in a way they may never have before, one which previous workflows and employment structures often barred from them.

Shifting mindset

This mindset shift needs to start at the top. All too often, CEOs still see AI as a ‘magic pixie dust’ which can be used for one reason: to cut costs. They are marooned in a post-COVID protectionist mindset, and the only thing that matters is shrinking the cost base.

What needs to happen is a shift to a growth mindset, using the economies of AI to find new approaches to the market. Rather than cutting costs or getting rid of people, organizations need to reshape how teams work. Bosses should identify new sets of use cases and go after bigger targets.

Rather than allowing people to make themselves redundant, they should retrain and invest in those people, pivoting that human capital to something different and more valuable. Your people know your business: you should invest in them.

That retraining cannot be treated as a one-off exercise. Organizations need to create structured pathways for continuous learning and AI skill development, helping employees build confidence and adapt alongside technology. Employees need personalized learning and hands-on experience that helps them move from experimentation to real-world application.

A new mindset

What is required to succeed with AI is a radically different mindset, focused on growth and the customer. This change needs to come from the board level, from the Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Digital Officer (CDO), or Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Organizations need to move employees from doing one specific task to a new focus on growth and move beyond simple digital transformation to something bigger.

Culture and change management, rather than technology alone, will be what dictates the winners of the next phase of AI.

Leaders who have the foresight and vision to upskill their employees and drive towards new ways of working will see huge productivity gains and will position their companies for future success.

Culture, not technology

The solution to stalling AI, or a failure to find value from the technology is not more AI, bigger models and more pilots. It is a cultural solution, based on the best asset you already have: your people.

That means superpowering existing teams, not replacing them, and finding new business models. This requires upskilling staff, rebuilding workflows and engaged leadership that actively encourages new ways of working.

To build companies fit for the future, culture and change management are just as important as AI licenses.

We list the best HR software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadar Pro Perspectives, our channel to feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today.

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