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We’re sure this won’t come as a surprise, but AI is top of mind for executives at private companies. A firm majority (79%) of C-level leaders say their companies are now either using GenAI or piloting the tech, and they named increasing AI usage as a main priority over any other issue.
A June Deloitte pulse survey of 100 C-level executives at private companies with revenues between $100 million and $1+ billion found that every one of their organizations was using GenAI, at least on an exploratory level. About one-third (35%) said their organizations were “actively” using AI, while 44% said they were identifying use cases for AI and running pilots.
AI will be a high priority for more than four in 10 organizations (43%) over the next 12 months, the survey found, closely followed by two related topics: investing in technology (37%) and increasing productivity (27%). (Improving cost structure and margins came in third at 31%).
Boards need AI savvy: AI is even influencing executives’ relationship with their boards. Strikingly, respondents considered emerging technology/AI competency as the most important skill they need to bolster their boards (43%), beating out more classic competencies such as marketing (36%) and strategy (30%).
And almost half of respondents said that educating board members about AI (49%) was a top AI-related priority. To put that in perspective, that’s the same percentage that said reskilling their workforce for AI (49%) would be vital.
But boards do seem to be getting the message: 42% of executives said they discussed AI and emerging technology at “every” board meeting in the last 12 months, and 44% said they discussed it quarterly.