AI Adoption Is High. Returns Are Not.

Summary

72% of organisations use AI in at least one function. Most companies crossed that line already. The bottleneck moved to what they're building around it: more tools bolted onto the same old workflows. Klarna scaled AI in customer service and pulled back after customers complained about quality. Zillow bet on predictive algorithms for home valuations and took heavy losses when the models got the market wrong. Both deployed AI. Neither redesigned the systems it ran inside.

A small group of firms captures most of the gains from AI right now. They rebuild end-to-end workflows, decision systems, and incentives around the technology instead of dropping it into existing processes. That's the difference between value and noise.

McKinsey estimates AI could add $2.6-4.4 trillion a year, but only for organisations that change how they operate. Skip the redesign and gains stay stuck in isolated teams, friction builds, and returns stall. Leaders who rebuild their processes around AI will see the upside. Leaders who don't will keep buying tools that don't move the numbers.