More than half of CEOs around the world are seeing a tangible, positive impact from genAI, with 56% reporting efficiency gains and 32% showing revenue increases over the last year, according to PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey.

However, PwC’s report, which surveyed over 4,700 CEOs across 109 countries and territories, found that despite these gains, business leaders are still not seeing the kind of performance they expected.

In 2024, 46% of CEOs said they expected to see profitability improvements from the adoption of emerging tech, but a year later, when asked if they had seen those gains, only 34% said they had.

One reason for this might be the apparent reluctance of CEOs to hand over the reins of critical business areas to AI, with only a third of business leaders reporting a high degree of trust in embedding the technology into key processes in their company. 

Despite that lack of trust, optimism about genAI’s impact on profitability is slightly up on last year, with 49% predicting an increase over the next twelve months. 

Added to that, this year’s report found that roughly half (47%) of CEOs expect to integrate AI – including genAI – into their technology platforms over the next three years, 41% plan to integrate it into core business processes, and 30% have plans for new technology products and service development.

PwC also found that in spite of growing fears around AI job displacement, there was no evidence to suggest a widespread reduction in employment across the global economy as a result of genAI, with more CEOs saying genAI has increased headcount than decreased it (17% vs 13%).

“This year’s survey shows a more mature view of genAI in the enterprise,” said Matt Wood, global and US CTIO at PwC.

“CEOs are convinced it has the power to unlock new opportunities – in fact they are more optimistic than last year. At the same time, they are more aware of the challenges they need to navigate to realise that value.

“They see the importance of building trust into the way their AI systems are designed, and for now are prioritising integration into core business processes.”

Frustrations around the performance of AI technology are partly wrapped up in the concerns CEOs have around the survival of their businesses.

PwC found that more than four in ten CEOs believe their company will not be viable beyond the next decade if it continues without significant change, with a similar number (42%) citing shifts in the regulatory environment as having the biggest influence on their economic viability. 

Across all sectors, almost two-thirds (63%) have taken at least one significant action to change how their company creates, delivers, and captures value in the last five years, with CEOs that have taken more reinvention actions reporting higher profit margins in the last year.

Almost four in ten (38%) say they have begun competing in at least one new sector in the last five years, with 34% noting this has represented a significant increase in company revenue over that period.

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The same is also true for those firms prioritising climate investments. When asked to take stock of the financial impact of climate related investments over the last five years, PwC found that these moves were six times more likely to have resulted in increased revenue (33%) than decreased revenue (5%).

Added to that, nearly two-thirds of CEOs reported that climate related investments had either reduced costs or had no significant impact on costs.

However, CEOs that made climate investments cited regulatory complexity as the main challenge inhibiting their companies’ ability to initiate those investments (24%), followed by lower returns on investment (18%), and a lack of buy-in from management and boards (6%).

Carol Stubbings, global chief commercial officer at PwC, said: “Three-plus decades of digitisation have started to break down formerly impermeable boundaries between sectors, while the combined impact of the climate transition, AI, and other megatrends will hasten the process of reconfiguration.

“This survey shows that business leaders are facing this future with a combination of optimism about the economy and realism that business needs to fundamentally reinvent how it creates value if it is to thrive in the future.”