The survey results, which are based on responses from 4,454 chief executives across 95 countries and territories, found that while 30% had reported increased revenue from AI in the past year and 26% had seen lower costs, 56% reported gaining neither benefit from the technology thus far.

Chief executives agreed that the culture of the organisation enables the adoption of AI in 53% of cases, with an additional 16% stating they strongly agreed, and a similar proportion felt their technology environment were allowing the integration of AI.

Despite this, 40% believed that the level of investment in the technology would allow the organisation to deliver its goals for AI, and 42% felt the level of AI investment was sufficient to attract talent in the area.

Three in 10 of the respondents questioned said they were extremely confident about revenue growth over the next 12 months, down from 38% in last year’s survey and 56% in 2022.

Tariffs were expected to reduce net profits in the year ahead, according to 29% of chief executives in the survey, but the majority ( 60%) expected little to no change. Most of those expecting a decline anticipated only a small decrease.

Two-thirds of respondents said that stakeholder trust concerns had arisen in at least one area of business operations over the past year.

However, chief executives were spending nearly half of their time ( 47%) on issues with time horizons of less than one year, compared with 16% dedicated to activities with a horizon of more than five years. 

The survey said that 40% of respondents said that their companies had started to compete in new sectors in the past five years, and of those planning large acquisitions within the next three years, four in 10 were looking at deals in other sectors or industries.