Atlassian’s latest AI Collaboration Index: Executive Insights reveals a sharp disconnect between the optimism of senior executives and the day-to-day realities of AI use in the workplace.

The study surveyed 180 Fortune 1000 executives and 12,000 knowledge workers to examine how teams are collaborating with AI – and where the technology is falling short.

According to the findings, AI adoption has doubled over the past year, but significant barriers remain. Leaders cited a lack of access to the right tools, worker uncertainty about how or when to use AI, and persistent concerns over security and compliance as the primary obstacles.

While knowledge workers report that AI makes them 33% more productive and saves them an average of 1.3 hours per day, the wider business impact is yet to materialise. Ninety-six per cent of executives said AI had not delivered meaningful ROI.

“At this moment, AI doesn’t help collaboration between teams. That’s a big pain point. How can it actually make teams work better together?” said the Head of Digital at a Fortune 1000 financial services company.

Executives cited personal efficiency gains as the main benefit of AI adoption, but only 4% reported major improvements in organisational efficiency, innovation, or work quality.

Beyond this, non-technical leaders were more likely to report tangible benefits: marketing and HR leaders were 2.3 times more likely than IT leaders to see meaningful business gains, likely because AI helps them solve technical problems without requiring deep expertise.

Nearly 70% of workplaces now offer AI training, though Atlassian’s research suggests that much of it is ineffective. The most impactful learning happens in smaller, active communities or hands-on workshops focused on solving specific problems.

Senior leaders were also found to be the most bullish on AI. Upper management is 5.6 times more likely than other staff to report that AI has dramatically improved their teams’ ability to solve complex problems. Atlassian suggests this may reflect a strategic optimism among executives, while those closer to daily operations are more aware of AI’s current limitations and risks.

As AI becomes a “core collaborator,” executives predict that critical thinking, judgment, emotional intelligence, leadership, and ethics will become the most valuable skills in the modern workplace.

Among Atlassian’s recommendations are: improving data quality to make systems “AI-ready,” measuring outcomes beyond adoption rates to include efficiency and innovation, empowering business units to experiment within clear guardrails for security and compliance, and building a culture of experimentation and peer learning over formal training.

CIO Insights

Technology executives expect AI to reshape – not shrink – the workforce. The share of fully automated work is forecast to double by 2030, but only 15% of tech leaders foresee major job cuts. A third expect AI to shift teams toward more strategic and creative work, while 29% anticipate that routine roles will disappear but be replaced by new ones.

“AI augments rather than replaces developer jobs. It gives people more time to focus on things like getting feedback from customers,” said the Chief Information Security Officer at a Fortune 1000 human capital management company.

Technology leaders were twice as likely as their peers to cite security and compliance as barriers to scaling AI. In contrast, marketing and HR leaders pointed to inadequate tooling and a lack of AI-skilled talent. Atlassian advises designing systems where “security and compliance are the default option,” using sandbox environments or “pause” screens to encourage deliberate use of AI.

While both executives and teams rate model development and deployment (MLOps) as a highly effective use case, only 38% of technology teams currently use AI for this purpose. IT support automation, however, was identified as both the most widely used and most effective application. Atlassian recommends maintaining investment in IT support automation while scaling MLOps frameworks and tools.

CMO Insights

“Great marketing moves fast, experiments freely, and learns in real time. AI gives us that freedom — empowering us to explore bold, creative ideas we might never have tried otherwise. We’re at our best when teams can achieve this with complete trust in AI tooling,” said Zeynep Ozdemir, Chief Marketing Officer.

Despite the enthusiasm, enterprise AI tools are falling short for marketers. Executives in marketing are twice as likely as their peers to say their organisation is overly cautious about data security. Many marketers prefer consumer AI tools over enterprise platforms, citing limited access to the right tools as the biggest barrier to adoption. Atlassian recommends reassessing the balance between security and accessibility and piloting consumer tools in controlled settings.

AI for content creation drew mixed reviews. While 82% of knowledge workers say AI is highly effective at creating content, only 59% of marketing leaders agreed. “We use AI to help with content creation, but in a regulated industry, we always double-check for accuracy and compliance. The biggest risk is damaging our reputation,” said a VP of Marketing at a Fortune 500 financial services company.

Performance measurement and reporting was the top-rated AI use case among marketing teams and executives, though it remains underused. Audience segmentation, meanwhile, was rated among the least popular and least effective applications. Atlassian’s advice: expand AI use in performance reporting while carefully auditing the ROI of segmentation tools.

CHRO Insights

For HR leaders, AI shows the greatest potential in career development and internal mobility, though few teams are currently taking advantage. Only one in four HR teams use AI for these purposes. AI is widely viewed as ineffective for candidate sourcing and screening, particularly among executives.

Atlassian suggests tying AI incentives to business outcomes — such as efficiency, customer satisfaction, and innovation — to move beyond automation and basic usage. The report found that when executive pay is linked to AI adoption, company-wide uptake doubles. Yet only 10% of organisations currently have such incentives in place.

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Half of HR leaders believe their function is getting the most value from AI today, though that view isn’t shared by peers in IT and marketing. As HR often leads on culture and upskilling initiatives, Atlassian says the function has a unique opportunity to shape the human-AI relationship and drive cultural transformation across organisations.

“The future of work is human-AI collaboration. Preparing for this future requires a cultural transformation alongside a technological one. HR has the opportunity to lead this shift and shape a world where teams and AI work hand-in-hand. It’s about unlocking the best of both, together,” said Avani Prabhakar, Chief People Officer.