Just 11% of CIOs Fully Implement AI as Security Concerns Fuel Apathy

Latest report by Salesforce has revealed that only 11% of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of various companies have fully implemented the Artificial Intelligence technology for their organisations.

This is even as 84% of the enterprise CIOs believe AI will be as significant to their businesses as the rise of the internet.

The data, which comes from a new Salesforce survey of 150 verified CIOs of companies with 1,000 or more employees, offers a snapshot of the state of enterprise AI, along with the hurdles ahead that must be addressed as companies pursue their AI strategies and ramp up their adoption of agents.

Key findings include

According to the study, CIOs feel pressure to be AI experts. 61% of CIOs feel they’re expected to know more about AI than they do, and their peers at other companies are their top sources of information.

CIOs agree that AI is a game changer but are cautious. 84% of CIOs believe AI will be as significant to businesses as the internet, but 67% are taking a more cautious approach compared to other technologies.

IT is focusing on data initiatives before leaning into AI. CIOs report spending a median of 20% of their budgets on data infrastructure and management, versus 5% on AI. Security or privacy threats and a lack of trusted data rank as CIOs’ biggest AI fears.

Business partners must examine their AI timelines. Sixty-six percent of CIOs believe they’ll see return on investment (ROI) from AI investments, but 68% believe their line-of-business stakeholders have unreasonable expectations for when that ROI will occur.

CIOs see a mismatch between departments when it comes to AI. While functions like customer service are seen as having the most AI use cases, they may be perceived as being the least prepared for the technology.

“Generative AI is one of the most transformative technologies of this century,” said Juan Perez, CIO, Salesforce. “This research gives a glimpse at the foundations that CIOs across industries and geographies are laying in preparation for the rollout of truly transformational AI.”

Implementation below expectations

The report also found that although, AI use is rapidly increasing in the workplace as business stakeholders see opportunities for increased efficiency, the rate of adoption is still below expectations by stakeholders as the CIOs are concerned about their business partners’ urgency.

In terms of adoption, 77% of CIOs say they have good or excellent executive buy-in on AI’s value, however, 68% believe there are unreasonable expectations of when they’ll see ROI from the technology.

Meanwhile, large shares of business leaders across sales, marketing, service, and ecommerce view themselves as having “fully implemented” the technology into their workflows.

Shadow AI in Vogue

There’s evidence that much of AI adoption is unsanctioned, introducing significant security risks as workers send sensitive data through unsecured large language models (LLMs).

On the other hand, just 11% of CIOs — with their greater technical expertise and broader view of the organisation — say they’ve fully implemented AI — 18 to 38 percentage points less than their line of business counterparts.

“The adoption of mass market generative AI tools by workers is ushering in a new era of “shadow AI” that highlights the urgency of implementing trusted tools,” said Perez.

The slow pace of sanctioned, enterprise-wide AI strategies and tools can be attributed to a focus on preparatory work that CIOs must tackle first.

Given the transformative nature of AI, 67% of CIOs say they’re taking a more calculated approach to its implementation compared to other technologies.

CIOs have no shortage of hurdles to consider when implementing AI, but those related to security and data are by far the most common.

Recognising that they must get their data in order before they can fully embrace AI, CIOs are currently allocating, on average, four times more budget toward data initiatives.