Working with AI drives innovation, but business leaders are sceptical

Collaborating with artificial intelligence increases the volume, diversity and detail of new ideas from business leaders according to a new poll from design consultancy IDEO. The survey also suggests that using AI to accelerate innovation rather than efficiency can increase growth by more than a third. In the study 1,000 business leaders answered a brief to design new products and services that could achieve both growth and sustainability objectives. Business leaders who received AI generated questions to help with ideation in response to the brief produced 56 percent more ideas, with a 13 percent increase in the diversity of ideas and a 27 percent increase in the level of detail compared to a control group who were not provided with artificial intelligence prompts.   

The study also claims that the way leaders interacted with artificial intelligence significantly impacted results. Business leaders who received AI generated example ideas, saw a 28 percent decrease in the volume of ideas, 19 percent decrease in diversity and 11.3 percent decrease in detail compared with leaders with AI generated questions.

The research suggests that UK businesses using artificial intelligence saw a 2.4 percent increase in growth and 0.24 percent reduction in costs as a result, demonstrating that the greatest benefits of AI adoption come from driving growth, rather than cutting costs. However, these numbers hide significant variation. C-suite leaders who use artificial intelligence as a tool for innovation saw a 5.4 percent increase in their growth, a 38 percent higher figure than for companies who use artificial intelligence for other objectives.

While businesses using artificial intelligence  consistently see benefits across customer experience, efficiency and product development, the report also says there are growing pains. C-suite leaders who use AI as a cost cutting tool are three times as likely to see a reduction in their efficiency than average and twice as likely to say it has damaged their relationship with clients. Furthermore, more than a quarter (26 percent) say AI has actually slowed their growth. Despite these trade-offs, just 18 percent of C-suite respondents intend to use AI to drive growth in their business, with 64 percent seeing it as a cost cutting tool.

Despite the potential of AI to drive growth, 21 percent of C-suite leaders do not understand how or why their businesses are using AI. This is in spite of the fact that 45 percent of C-suite respondents believe that AI will make or break their organization. A third (35 percent) of the C-suite have said that AI has changed the way they talk about their products and services but has not changed what they actually do, with 26 percent believing AI is a passing fad.