Only a small number of businesses have so far been able to harness AI successfully for business growth, with most struggling to get their workforce ready to fully leverage the technology, according to a new study from Kyndryl.

The tech service provider’s first People Readiness Report found that most organisations have not begun to align their workforce strategies with the growth of AI, with the result that 71% of business leaders say their workforces are not ready to capitalise on the technology.

Of the more than 1,000 senior business and technology execs polled by Kyndryl, half (51%) believe their organisations lack the talent needed to manage AI despite 95% having already invested in the emerging tech.

Although there have been widespread attempts at implementation, the dearth of talent is holding organisations back from using AI in creative or innovative ways. For example, while genAI tools are the most common use case, only 46% of firms use AI-driven insights to guide decisions or improve growth, while just a fifth use it to develop new products and services for customers. 

Although no industry was found to be even close to fully ready to effectively utilise AI, those in the banking and financial services (36%) and insurance (30%) sectors reported the highest levels of workforce preparedness, while those in telecoms (22%) and healthcare (19%) are trailing behind.

Kyndryl found that AI readiness is being held back in part because CEOs and technology leaders have different views on its impact.

Compared to CIOs and CTOs, CEOs are far more likely to say their AI strategy is less matured, and two and a half times more likely to say their infrastructure is inadequate to support it. 

That difference extends to how they choose to solve AI-related workforce challenges. While tech executives are more focused on upskilling their existing (80%) CEOs would rather turn to outside talent, perhaps because 45% think most of their staff are resistant or even openly hostile to AI.

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Despite that, business leaders aren’t overly concerned with building workforce trust in AI, with only 42% citing this as a top priority and just 44% involving employees in the implementation process.

These problems, compounded by a lack of AI training, are leading to low employee confidence, which in turn is presenting firms with even more skills challenges.

“Preparing your workforce for the era of AI is easy to say, hard to do and an urgent imperative for business leaders,” said Maryjo Charbonnier, chief human resources officer at Kyndryl. 

“It’s about anticipating the business impacts of AI, understanding and integrating your skill data with your customer demand and having a multi-pronged approach for equipping employees to build the skills they need and learn to effectively use generative AI tools in their work.”

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