Smart Companies Focus on What AI Can Do Now
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Every business leader following the news about their industry will currently be facing wave after wave of artificial intelligence (AI) stories. The pace of change and innovation is relentless and the industry analysts, consulting companies, and media are all adding to the noise.
The constant drumbeat of fear is focused on change. What if my entire industry is about to change and I’m not leading that change or not even aware of the possibilities?
This is a concern for every business leader, but don’t forget that the business journalists and everyone else creating this wave of ideas and innovation all want you to constantly feel as if a change is coming tomorrow so that you need to be aware of it today.
Look around the world at how different regions are embracing AI and there is a more nuanced picture emerging. Appreciating this in more detail should allow you to take control and take advantage of what AI can really do for your business.
The main issue is that AI is an emerging technology. It can be seen as a tool, but it is a tool that is clearly reshaping possibilities in some industries. AI cannot be dismissed as a new technology trend that can be ignored because ‘next year there will be a new trend to worry about.’
It is smarter to think of AI as an enabling technology. It is like the emergence of the spreadsheet, email, or social media. In each case, we have seen that these tools created an enormous wave of change and opportunity across all industries. Email was not just a simple tool that some companies could adopt and some could ignore – everyone had to use it.
This is the opportunity and the problem. There is no business plan. There is no simple ROI that a manager can point to and say, here is where we will find value. There is a lot of change, confusion, and disappointment in failed projects. Experimentation is required without a clear road map.
The industry analyst Gartner recently published research suggesting that 85% of AI projects are failing. The main reason is that AI projects depend on a large amount of high quality data. If you don’t have the data then the AI model will struggle and the results will be disappointing.
Unfortunately, some executives want to rush because the fear of missing out is too great. They insist on launching a pilot to test the technology without thinking in detail about the data – or the systems, processes or people that also need to be in place. Some industry analysts suggest that only 1 in 10 AI pilots is moving into production – similar to the Gartner figures on project failure.
Although most AI projects are failing because too many companies are rushing to use the technology without effective planning, the adoption rate is increasing.
In 2017, just 6% of American companies used AI. In 2025, PwC found that 88% of the managers they talked to plan to increase their AI budget inside the next year. 79% said that they are adopting some AI-powered changes to their business. However, only 35% of these companies had broadly implemented the use of AI agents and just 17% have implemented them into most workflows.
In China, there is a very broad acceptance that the entire economy can be boosted through the use of AI in companies – mainly in driving up productivity. Generative AI was already being used by 83% of companies in 2024.
This is not quite an equal comparison as the US data is focused on agentic AI and the Chinese data only looks at generative AI, however in both these regions there is a clear acceptance that AI can help to improve business productivity – it can therefore be extremely valuable.
There does seem to be a cultural difference across the regions, with Chinese companies largely rushing in and trying to find immediate improvements and US companies exploring how AI can dramatically change or improve their business, rather than just offer an incremental improvement.
I think the approach of the ‘Big Tech’ companies powering most of the research into AI shows the general difference in the approach to AI around the world. The latest AI investment from Meta is a “Superintelligence Lab” that aims to extend the power of AI beyond that of the human brain – they are trying to achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
The Chinese approach is more pragmatic. Make most of the AI systems open source so cost is no barrier to adoption and then encourage everyone in every company to see what they can achieve.
Who will win?
It depends whether the AGI breakthrough can really be achieved in the near future. There is a cultural change taking place in China – and Asia more generally – that accepts that companies are using AI to improve their services. They are doing it today. This may cause some mistakes, but mistakes will be rectified and everyone will move on. The progress will be steady and constant.
The California approach seems to be more about focusing on a potential huge win coming from the tech giants in California and not even worrying about what retailers in Ohio or hospitality companies in New York are doing. The focus is on the tech innovation, rather than what every small company is doing with it.
If AGI can be proven soon then this will change the world, but if we are still talking about the search for AGI and superintelligence a decade from now then there will be a many companies in Asia that will have adopted AI years before their rivals in Europe and the US. They will be ready to find new customers in new markets and the service they will be offering will make the companies of today look like Kodak compared to Instagram.
The real lesson is, don’t wait for big tech. Explore what AI can do for your business today and use it as a tool. Start small. Build capabilities and experience in the culture of AI and innovation because each small pilot that goes into production will improve your services as your competition stands still.
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