Signal AI pioneers are markedly more optimistic than non-pioneers

Summary

McKinsey separates out a group it calls AI pioneers, making up 23 percent of surveyed leaders, whose organizations understand how AI will reshape their work and are rolling it out across most functions. These leaders are markedly more upbeat about the future than their peers. Sixty-four percent of pioneers expect shifts in the economy, politics, and consumer sentiment to benefit their organizations over the next one to two years, against 45 percent of non-pioneers. Pioneers are also more than twice as likely to think their staff will set higher goals and reach them, at 56 percent versus 26 percent. The gap raises questions about how others can build a test-and-learn culture.