New Deloitte Gen AI Report: Business Leaders Express Concerns Over Societal Impact and Tech Talent Shortage

Generative AI is advancing rapidly, prompting Deloitte to release the inaugural edition of its quarterly survey, "The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise: Now Decides Next." This survey gathered insights from 2,800 respondents across six industries and sixteen countries, ranging from director to C-suite levels.

One notable finding reveals that while 79% of business leaders are optimistic about generative AI transforming their organizations within three years, their immediate focus is on practical benefits. More than half of the respondents expressed concern that the widespread adoption of generative AI could centralize global economic power and exacerbate inequality. Additionally, a lack of technical talent is identified as the primary barrier to AI adoption, followed by regulatory compliance and governance challenges.

Beena Ammanath, Global Head of the Deloitte AI Institute, highlighted the unexpected level of awareness among business leaders regarding generative AI's societal impacts. "It was encouraging to see a significant number of respondents recognizing the need for more regulation and collaboration," she noted. "This optimism suggests a balance between business value creation and societal considerations as the technology scales."

Ammanath also pointed out that many organizations continue to rely on generic AI solutions rather than developing tailored, industry-specific generative AI applications. "Hopefully, by the end of the year, we'll see a shift in these numbers," she said. "As the technology matures, this will be a key metric to watch."

The survey indicates that organizations with high expertise in generative AI tend to have a more positive outlook but also experience increased pressure. "Leaders in these organizations report greater employee interest and technical readiness, but they also feel a competitive urgency to innovate quickly," Ammanath explained.

Looking forward, Deloitte will continue to conduct quarterly generative AI pulse surveys to establish a reliable baseline for ongoing analysis. "We will maintain consistency in metrics for future surveys, as it's still early in the adoption process," Ammanath remarked.