Scale matters in AI adoption

It might seem intuitive that AI (including GenAI), with its low cost and easy scalability, would serve as an equaliser across businesses of all sizes. But findings from PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey suggest the opposite could be true. Large companies seem more poised than their smaller-sized peers to capture the technology’s potential—which means that the benefits of AI may not be evenly distributed. 

In our analysis, CEOs at the largest companies (those with annual revenue of more than US$25 billion) have far bigger plans for AI than those at the smallest companies (those with less than US$100 million). Specifically, they are 24 to 30 percentage points more likely to say that they plan to integrate AI into technology platforms, new products and services, business processes, and workforce and skills over the next three years.

Why? One possible explanation is that large organisations already have the resources and infrastructure in place to implement AI. This readiness gap is significant, because AI adoption is already correlated to better financial performance. CEOs who report large increases in efficiency due to AI also report higher profit margins for the business overall, after adjusting for industry, geography, company size and other extraneous factors.

The disparity also carries implications beyond individual companies; it could affect entire regions and economies, depending on the scale of the businesses that operate there, with cities and regions that are home to larger businesses capturing much of AI’s economic value. Consider that in the US, companies with fewer than ten workers account for only around 15% of total employmentOpens in a new window in the country. In Italy, by comparison, more than 40% of employmentOpens in a new window is at companies of this size.

We are still in the early days of AI, and usage patterns are changing rapidly. However, all stakeholders need to monitor which types of organisations are adopting the technology the fastest, and where productivity gains are being generated. CEOs at smaller companies may need to push their teams to systematically explore and embrace AI. And policymakers need to understand where they may be ceding an economic advantage. 

By thoughtfully integrating AI, companies of all sizes can better capture the opportunities presented by this transformative technology.