According to a Gartner survey of 451 senior technology leaders in Q2 2024, 57% of the CIOs affirmed to have been tasked to lead AI strategy in their organizations. However, there are four significant challenges that keep CIOs from delivering value from AI.

The first of the four emerging challenges, as per analysts, is that business benefits of AI do not always materialize.

1. Based on another Gartner survey of 5,000 digital workers across the U.S., UK, India, Australia, and China, it has been revealed that employees save an average of 3.6 hours per week using GenAI; however, not all gain the same benefits.

Notably, AI-driven organizations are exploring benefits that go beyond just boosting productivity. They aim to improve operations and processes by automating essential tasks and adapting roles to work with technologies like chatbots.

Additionally, at a strategic level, they seek transformative changes, such as creating new revenue streams and redefining their overall business models.

2. The next challenge is that AI costs can spiral out of control. 90% of CIOs said cost management limits their ability to derive value from AI. Considered as big a risk as security or AI hallucinations, failing to understand how GenAI costs scale, CIOs risk errors of 500%-1,000% in cost calculations, analysts said.

3. Only 35% of AI capabilities are built by IT teams, according to the Gartner survey of over 300 CIOs. This proliferation of data and AI creates new risks. To overcome this, new strategies are needed for data governance, protecting access, and managing AI inputs and outputs safely.

4. Finally, analysts mention AI’s impact on employee performance, as some feel positive about it while others are threatened. Gartner says that only 20% of CIOs are actively working to mitigate potential negative impacts of GenAI on employee well-being.