KPMG’s latest CEO Outlook has found that business leaders around the world are confident of future growth prospects, but under pressure from growing threats including the emergence of disruptive technology and increasing cybersecurity worries.

The tenth annual survey of over 1,300 CEOs, including 150 from the UK, across July and August, revealed that despite ongoing uncertainty over the impact of the technology, 68% of UK executives agree genAI should be a top investment priority for their organisation.

Among the top benefits expected of genAI is the ability to upskill the workforce for future readiness, and increase efficiency and productivity through automating routine operations.

Despite employee concerns, that doesn’t necessarily mean CEOs are ready to reduce headcounts. In fact, 71% of UK leaders said that genAI will not fundamentally reduce the number of jobs in their organisation, with 27% expecting it to create more jobs than it eliminates.

The survey shows that executives are overwhelmingly optimistic about job creation, with 92% expecting their headcount to increase over the next three years.

That’s down in part to the cautious approach governments and businesses are taking with the constantly evolving new tech. According to the survey, just 43% of CEOs are confident they’ll have data ready to safely and effectively integrate genAI, and 69% further agreed that the pace of progress on AI regulations will be a barrier to their success.

When that success might come is also up for debate. UK leaders anticipate that the ROI from genAI will take years to materialise, with 63% estimating it could take between 3-5 years, and 20% think it will be more than five years before they see returns.

Only 1% of CEOs said that genAI would offer returns in the first year of using the technology.

Although UK chief executives generally view genAI as an opportunity, they now see cybersecurity as a top threat to growth over the next three years—a risk that didn’t even rank in the top three last year.

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In response, CEOs say they are focused on the digitisation of their businesses. Advancing digitisation and connectivity was found to be a top operational priority for growth, with leaders considering it essential to increasing resilience and providing a platform for integrating emerging tech.

“GenAI presents a genuine opportunity to help solve the UK’s productivity puzzle and chief execs see it as a positive disruptor, which will change the nature of work,” said Jon Holt, chief executive and senior partner of KPMG UK.

“As an engine for economic growth the UK services industry is at the cutting edge of embracing genAI, helping clients transform their businesses, drive growth and speed ahead in the race to embed this revolutionary technology. The genAI story is changing every day, and this is only the beginning.”