Just 20% of companies worldwide absorb 74% of the total economic value generated by artificial intelligence, a new PwC global study has found, revealing a sharp divide between businesses that have mastered AI and those still struggling to benefit from it.
The PwC AI Performance study, based on 1,217 interviews with senior executives at large international companies, examined the revenues and efficiency gains companies are currently drawing from AI and how they are putting those gains to use.
Top-performing companies use AI two to three times more than their competitors to identify new opportunities and redesign their business models, the study found. They are not simply deploying AI tools — they are using them to drive business transformation and make decisions that generate additional revenue.
Leading companies also make AI-driven decisions without human intervention at nearly three times the rate of rivals (2.8x), and employees at those firms are twice as willing to rely on AI-generated results, according to senior executives surveyed.
The study also found that AI leaders are more likely to have governance structures in place: they are 1.7 times more likely to operate a Responsible AI framework and 1.5 times more likely to have a cross-departmental AI governance board than competitors.
Companies recording the strongest financial gains from AI are also twice as likely to deploy the technology at an advanced level, the study found.
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