IT Leaders' AI Priorities Emphasize Productivity Over Innovation
CIO, Friday, February 28th, 2025
Many IT executives see AI as a tool to reduce employee headcount, and nearly half don't expect to pay more for new AI features from their current IT vendors.
IT leaders are still aiming for the low-hanging fruit when using AI, zeroing in on improving employee productivity rather than more advanced uses such as enabling innovation or expanding revenue, according to a new survey.
Over two-thirds of IT leaders have focused their AI investments on employee productivity, with just over half using AI to improve customer support or to enable innovation, according to the AI Priorities Study from CIO.com parent company Foundry. Less than half are using AI to expand revenue opportunities or to increase the speed of development.
Replacing employees with AI appears to be part of the productivity goal, with more than half of those surveyed expecting that AI will eventually enable workforce reductions. Those expectations run counter to the message from many AI experts who have touted the technology as more of an employee assistant than a replacement.