Almost nine in ten C-suite leaders are prepared to increase their investment into AI tech this year, with 60% expecting genAI solutions to be used at scale across their organisations, according to Accenture’s latest Pulse of Change report.

The global professional services company surveyed more than 6,000 C-suite leaders and employees from twenty countries, and found that as well as 86% of executives being ready to spend more on AI, 83% claimed that their experience with genAI over the past year had led them to see ‘greater potential’ for the positive impact of the technology.

Half of executives said that they plan on focusing their AI investment on IT functions – rising to 58% of those in the tech sector – followed by integrating more AI within engineering and production operations (38%), customer service (29%), and R&D (28%).

Accenture’s data shows that by ramping up their investments, firms are looking to stay ahead in the AI arms race. Capitalising on advances in technology was the main driver behind C-suite execs AI strategies, with 20% saying they planned to use the tech to maintain business competitiveness.

Just 12% reported that a desire to improve the skills of their workforce was the main reason to invest more in AI, and only 10% said capitalising on data readiness was the driving factor.

With genAI however, business leaders are looking for something slightly different. Almost half (47%) of all executives are focusing their genAI investments on the creation of new, AI-powered products and services, with a similar number (44%) planning to use it to enhance existing processes by completing specific tasks and workflows.

Fewer than one in ten (9%) said they would focus on using genAI to completely reinvent their processes from the bottom up.

To pay for the increase in AI investments, half of C-suite leaders (50%) said that they would look to increase their budget entirely, while 45% reported shifting investments from other areas, though only 5% said they would move funds away from other technology investments to pay for more genAI development.

Despite their eager plans around AI, Accenture found that business leaders still have some doubts around scaling the technology. Over a quarter (26%) of C-suite executives pointed to a lack of clarity around the return on investment of AI as their main concern, while 28% identified limitations with their data or tech infrastructure as the biggest hurdle.

There is also a notable disconnect between C-suite’s AI talent strategy and their employee’s perceived benefits of it, with the survey showing a 20% gap between leaders and employees on whether their organisations provide sufficient training to use AI tools (92% vs 72%).  

The evidence suggests that employees are suffering from a lack of clarity around AI policies and their implementation, with 55% reporting that comprehensive training and clear guidelines would boost their confidence in using these tools.

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Interestingly, employee concerns about AI replacing them in their jobs ranked lowest (11%) among reasons for avoiding AI tools at work, with higher concerns including lack of training (25%), accuracy issues (23%), and difficulty integrating AI into daily tasks.  

Meanwhile, 67% of C-suite leaders believe AI will replace entry-level skills, compared to 58% of employees, with only 3% of executives thinking it will have a minimal impact on these skill requirements, compared to 9% of employees.