AI Adoption Costs Rise for Businesses While Worker Productivity Gains Remain Modest
A new Bain & Company report finds that businesses expect AI spending to account for 20-30% of operating expenses within three to four years, driven by pressure to use advanced models whose costs are escalating. A separate survey of 6,000 digital workers shows AI saves an average of 11 hours per week, yet only 13% report it has significantly improved their organization's performance. The findings highlight a disconnect between AI investment levels and measurable business impact, with workers achieving better results through unauthorized or unapproved tool usage.
According to a Bain & Company report surveying C-suite leaders, businesses face mounting pressure to adopt advanced AI products to remain competitive, with AI spending projected to represent 20-30% of operating expenses over the next three to four years. New AI models like Anthropic's Claude are significantly more expensive than existing alternatives such as OpenAI's most powerful offerings, prompting some companies to adopt a mixed-model strategy that matches capability levels to specific tasks. A concurrent survey by AI startup Glean of 6,000 full-time digital workers across the US, UK, and Australia found that while 87% use AI at work and report saving an average of 11 hours weekly, only 13% say AI has meaningfully improved their organization's performance. Notably, workers achieving the strongest results tend to circumvent official policies, with more than half of those reporting significant AI-driven improvements using unapproved tools or authorized tools in unauthorized ways, and over a third concealing their AI usage from managers.
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- SemaforCenter
AI costs rising for businesses: report
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