Business Leaders Say AI Is the Future — But They Wish It Worked Better Today
GeokHub
Contributing Writer
**SAN FRANCISCO / STOCKHOLM — Dec 16 (GeokHub)**Business executives across industries strongly believe artificial intelligence (AI) will transform the way companies operate — but many are grappling with the technology’s current limitations, according to industry sources and executive surveys.
Despite a wave of AI adoption since the rise of generative models like ChatGPT three years ago, most firms have yet to see significant financial returns from their investments. Surveys by research firms suggest that only a small fraction of companies — around 15% and 5% in two major studies — reported meaningful improvement in profit margins or value creation tied directly to AI deployments.
Executives say part of the problem stems from the gap between expectations and reality. While AI excels in some complex tasks, it still struggles with consistency, contextual understanding, and practical applications that businesses need right now. Examples abound: a wine recommendation feature built by a small tech company required weeks of trial and adjustment before it produced useful results, highlighting how AI systems can be overly deferential or inaccurate without careful tuning.
At a major railroad service provider, AI tools designed to summarize safety regulations repeatedly misinterpreted key rules, forcing the company to pause the project and rethink its approach — despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on development.
These challenges have not dampened interest in AI, but they have tempered optimism about near-term transformation. Many organizations are now reconsidering timelines for rolling out AI solutions and are investing in closer human–AI collaboration, embedding technical experts with internal teams to tune systems for specific business problems.
Large AI developers, including OpenAI and Anthropic, are pivoting toward enterprise customers and tailoring products to specific industries in hopes of driving practical business impact. Still, analysts warn that realizing the full potential of AI will require more than technology alone — it will demand strategic focus, process redesign, and ongoing human supervision.
As companies continue evaluating how to harness AI, leaders acknowledge that the technology’s promise remains significant — but short-term returns and reliable performance are still a work in progress.
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