Four years into the enterprise AI boom, the question is no longer whether companies are using AI. It is whether they are getting enough back.
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The fourth annual study by Wharton Human-AI Research (WHAIR), a research center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with GBK Collective, finds that AI adoption is now widespread, but stronger returns depend on how companies measure value, transform workflows, and align their organizations around AI. Based on a survey of 1,416 U.S. enterprise leaders and employees, the study finds 80% of leaders report positive AI ROI, but only 28% report strongly positive returns. Departments measuring AI against growth outcomes are nearly three times as likely to report strong ROI as those focused on efficiency alone, 35% vs. 13%.
The fourth annual study by Wharton Human-AI Research (WHAIR), a research center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with GBK Collective, a market research and analytics firm, released today finds 80% of enterprise leaders (managers, directors, VPs, and C-Suite) report positive returns from AI investments. But only 28% say those returns are strongly positive.
Based on a survey of 1,416 U.S. enterprise leaders and entry-/mid-level employees, the research points to a widening gap between companies simply using AI and those transforming how they operate around it, empowering employees with the training and support to put AI to work more effectively. The report, “The Adaptive Advantage: Who’s Winning with AI and How,” identifies three markers of AI success: proving value, transforming workflows, and aligning the organization around AI. Only 7% of organizations succeed across all three.
“Over four years, we have watched AI move from experimentation into everyday business operations. This year, the question changes,” said Stefano Puntoni, Sebastian S. Kresge Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School and Faculty Co-Director of WHAIR. “The vast majority of companies are using AI and most are seeing some return. What separates the leaders is whether they are changing the business around AI enough to generate meaningful value.”
Strong AI Returns Go Beyond Saving Time
Companies expect AI to transform their businesses, but many are still measuring success primarily through incremental efficiency gains. Eighty-three percent of enterprise leaders expect AI to fundamentally transform or have a major impact on their industry within the next two to five years. Yet the most common measure of AI ROI is hours saved, cited by 40% of departments, while net-new revenue is the least-used major measure at 27%.
The difference matters. Among departments that track at least one growth measure, such as net-new revenue, sales conversion, output volume or customer satisfaction, 35% report strongly positive returns. Among those measuring AI through efficiency metrics alone, that falls to 13%.
“Companies believe AI is going to transform their industries, but many are still asking it to prove itself by saving time,” said Prasanna “Sonny” Tambe, Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at the Wharton School and Faculty Co-Director of WHAIR. “The companies seeing stronger returns are going further. They are redesigning workflows, putting clear ownership and governance in place, and measuring AI against outcomes that matter to growth.”
Despite this, the majority of leaders (52%) still say AI’s primary job over the next 12–24 months is improving productivity or reducing costs. Only 22% point to growing the business through new revenue, new products, or better customer experience.
How companies organize around AI also correlates with stronger returns. Among managers and above, 58% at organizations with a newly designated Chief AI Officer report strongly positive ROI, compared with 24% where AI responsibility was added to an existing executive’s role and 8% with no such role or plans. At organizations standardized on one approved AI platform, 50% report strong ROI, versus 9% still experimenting without a defined approach.
AI Is Changing Work Faster Than Companies Are Transforming Around It
Nearly three in four enterprise leaders (73%) say AI has significantly changed how their departments work, while 67% report using AI agents in some form. But deeper transformation remains limited. Only 28% say AI is fully embedded in core business processes, and just 17% let agents act without a person approving each step.
“Two-thirds of departments say they use AI agents, and only 17% let an agent complete a task without a person approving each step. Most companies are sitting in a supervised middle, paying for autonomy and then reviewing every action, and that is where returns are weakest,” said Brian Smith, Executive Vice President of the AI, Cloud & Enterprise Technology Practice at GBK Collective. “The organizations getting the most from agents have decided which work an agent can own, put automated monitoring around it, and stopped signing off on every step.”
Only one in five organizations meet all three measures the study uses to define successful workflow transformation: significantly changed workflows, AI embedded in core processes, and use of AI agents. The payoff for getting there is significant. Among departments that succeed on the workflow transformation measure, 67% report strongly positive ROI, compared with 28% of enterprise leaders overall.
The findings also challenge the idea that stronger AI returns come primarily from cutting people. Organizations reporting strong ROI are no more likely than others to report staff reductions or hiring freezes. Instead, they are more likely to have changed management structures, redesigned workflows, monitored AI use, incorporated AI into performance reviews, and adequately trained employees.
Leaders and Employees See a Different AI Transformation
For the first time, the annual study surveyed entry- and mid-level employees alongside enterprise leaders, revealing a consistent gap between how management views AI transformation and what employees experience.
Seventy-three percent of enterprise leaders say workflows have significantly changed because of AI, compared with 58% of entry-/mid-level employees. Similarly, 52% of enterprise leaders say AI has changed their department’s management structure, compared with 36% of more junior employees. Training shows an even larger divide. More than three in four leaders (78%) say employees receive adequate AI training, but only 56% of employees agree. Enterprise leaders are also more likely to say employees are confident using AI in daily work, 79% vs. 62%, and that leadership has articulated a clear long-term AI vision, 79% vs. 64%.
The divide does not appear to be driven by employee rejection of the technology. Nearly three-quarters of entry- and mid-level employees (73%) say AI has had a positive effect on their own role, and 84% of those who use it say it saves them time.
“Access to powerful AI is quickly becoming ubiquitous,” said Jeremy Korst, Partner with GBK Collective and Lecturer at the Wharton School. “The advantage comes from what an organization can do with it: redesign workflows, align leaders and employees and translate AI into measurable business outcomes. That requires clear ownership, aligned leadership teams, empowered employees and a much sharper understanding of the outcomes the organization is trying to achieve.”
The study finds the seniority gap across nearly every measure of organizational readiness, suggesting one of the biggest challenges for companies is not convincing employees that AI has value, but making sure the organization is transforming around them.
AI Is Reshaping Jobs, But the Workforce Impact Is Far From Settled
AI is already changing workforce structures. Thirty-seven percent of enterprise leaders report staff reductions related to AI and 33% report slowed or frozen hiring.
The pressure appears greater at the beginning of the career ladder. Twenty-four percent of enterprise leaders expect fewer entry-level hires over the next two to five years, compared with 14% expecting fewer executive roles.
At the same time, 82% say AI helps newer employees contribute faster, creating a tension between AI’s ability to make early-career workers more productive and its potential to reduce the number of those roles.
Concerns around skill atrophy with AI continue in this year’s report. Nearly half of VP-level and above leaders (48%) and entry- and mid-level employees (46%) worry their own skills or cognition are declining. About one in three managers and directors (32%) share that concern.
Separately, AI is reshaping the work of senior leaders. Among VP+ respondents, 82% say their focus has shifted toward managing AI output, while 67% say they would be much less productive without it.
While AI usage continues to climb, enthusiasm is not keeping pace. Daily use among managers and above rose roughly 16 percentage points to 62%, while 91% now use AI more than weekly. Yet those saying they feel “excited” fell eight points year over year, while “cautious” rose seven points and “skeptical” rose eight points. It is the first year in the study in which usage and sentiment have moved in opposite directions.
Download the Report
The full report, The Adaptive Advantage: Who’s Winning with AI and How, is available for download HERE.
About The Wharton School
Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year, 100,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs, and thousands of pre-collegiate students explore business concepts through Wharton’s Global Youth Program. More than 105,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.
About Wharton Human-AI Research (WHAIR)
Wharton Human-AI Research (WHAIR) is a research center at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania dedicated to advancing understanding of how artificial intelligence and human decision-making intersect in business and society. Through pioneering research, surveys, and industry collaborations, WHAIR explores the opportunities and challenges of AI adoption, from workforce transformation and organizational strategy to ethics and governance. WHAIR’s mission is to equip leaders with insights and evidence-based practices to harness AI responsibly and effectively for long-term impact. For more information, visit ai.wharton.upenn.edu.
About GBK Collective
GBK Collective is a decision-grade research and analytics firm built for consequential business questions—when leaders need answers that can withstand scrutiny and guide action. We bring academic rigor to commercial decision-making, combining qualitative inquiry, quantitative research, advanced analytics, and predictive modeling to reveal what conventional approaches often miss. Every engagement is led by senior GBK researchers working alongside academic experts in marketing science, behavioral science, and analytics, pairing methodological depth with real-world judgment from study design through final analysis. To learn how GBK helps organizations make sharper, more defensible decisions, visit www.gbkcollective.com.
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