UK leaders are overwhelmingly turning to AI for business mentorship and advice more often than their human peers, despite many having ‘moral objections’ to adopting the tech.

New research from the Adaptavist Group has found that 80% of business leaders have used genAI as a business mentor at least once, with more than a quarter (26%) asking for its advice on a daily basis, compared to just 16% who take their problems to another person.

The study of 300 UK business leaders suggests AI is stepping in to fill a mentorship gap, with 90% believing there’s a lack of guidance available, driving many to AI for support.

Around a third (32%) said they had only received human mentorship once or twice in total, while 26% said they had only received such mentorship a handful of times.

Using AI to help drive business strategy is seemingly having a positive impact on success. According to respondents, 59% of leaders said AI had improved operations, while 35% said it has already helped their business to grow. 

Looking forward, 62% still see AI as a worthwhile investment, and 82% said it will help them to further accelerate business growth. 

However, despite its popularity, AI confidence is low.

Among UK business leaders, the vast majority are still not sure they know how to use the tech most effectively, with nearly half (47%) admitting that they have taught themselves how to use genAI, but are not confident in their skills.

The lack of AI training at leadership level is fast becoming a serious problem, as 70% said they have had no training on how to use genAI tools, even as 62% use them once a day or more. 

An overwhelming 89% acknowledge the need to close their AI knowledge gaps, saying they want more training to unlock its full potential, but with 38% of business leaders saying they’re too embarrassed to confess they don’t already know how to AI, implementing training regimes might prove difficult.

Alongside that, other persistent barriers to adoption remain. A third of leaders identified costs as their biggest challenge, while more than a quarter (27%) said that lack of understanding still holds them back.

Meanwhile, almost one in four (23%) of respondents said they had moral objections to deploying AI, while 20% said ‘environmental concerns’ were their biggest concern.

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“Evidently, leaders are turning to AI en masse to fill crucial functions, particularly where human mentorship is lacking,” said Simon Haighton-Williams, CEO at the Adaptavist Group.

“But many are doing so without full confidence in their knowledge or without the support to be sure they are leveraging AI effectively.

“Keir Starmer recently said we must ‘mainline AI into the UK’s veins’, but that ambition demands more than investment in technology – it requires investment in people on every rung of the business leadership ladder.”

Studies like this may be evidence of a turning point in AI-human relationships, with other research indicating that business leaders are beginning to recognise the value in asking AI bots for guidance and advice.

A survey by AI platform Dataiku in April found a staggering 94% of CEOs believe AI agents could provide better counsel on business decisions than a human board member, while nine-in-ten (89%) admitted that AI is capable of developing an equal or better strategic plan for their business than their executive leaders.

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