A new report from McKinsey & Company reveals that the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating across industries, yet many organizations lack clear policies to manage associated risks. The findings were published in the firm’s 2024 State of AI report, based on a global survey of nearly 1,400 participants.
The report highlights that one-third of respondents said their companies are regularly using generative AI tools in at least one business function. This marks a significant rise from the previous year, when McKinsey began tracking the use of gen AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and others in the workplace.
“Respondents now report that gen AI use is most common in the functions where it was reported most often in the previous survey: marketing and sales, product and service development, and service operations,” the report states.
Despite the rise in usage, the report underscores a major gap in oversight. Only 21% of respondents said their organizations have policies in place to govern employee use of generative AI. Moreover, just 32% of those using gen AI reported mitigating inaccuracy, intellectual property, or cybersecurity risks during development.
“While AI high performers—those organizations seeing the biggest bottom-line impact from AI—are more likely than others to recognize and address these risks, even they are not mitigating them fully,” the authors wrote.
In terms of impact, 42% of respondents said their companies are experiencing cost decreases from AI adoption, while 59% noted increased revenues. However, AI’s full potential appears unevenly distributed, as only 23% of organizations attribute more than 5% of their earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) to AI.
The report also notes a concentration of AI success in a small number of “high performers,” which are typically more mature in AI deployment and more aggressive in scaling use cases.
As businesses race to integrate generative AI, McKinsey’s findings suggest that the next challenge lies in establishing guardrails to ensure responsible and effective use.
