Firms still not profiting from AI
PwC research says many Irish and global firms are running pilots and experiments with AI but are failing to convert them into measurable financial returns. The finding highlights that access to models alone isn’t producing predictable profit, according to reporting on the PwC analysis. (irishtimes.com)
Most companies using artificial intelligence are still not turning it into measurable profit, according to a new PwC study released on April 13. (pwc.com) PwC said its 2026 AI Performance study surveyed 1,217 senior executives at mainly large, publicly listed companies across 25 sectors. The firm found that 74 percent of AI’s economic value is being captured by just 20 percent of organizations. (pwc.com) PwC Ireland said “many companies are busy rolling out AI pilots, but only a minority are converting that activity into measurable financial returns,” and said the biggest gains are going to a small group of leaders. Its Irish release said those leaders invest 2.5 times more than other firms and manage that spending more flexibly. (pwc.ie) Artificial intelligence software can summarize documents, write code, answer customer questions and automate parts of office work. PwC’s finding is that buying access to those tools has not, by itself, produced reliable gains in revenue or cost savings across most companies. (pwc.com) The firms getting paid back are using AI differently. PwC said the top performers are twice as likely to redesign workflows around AI instead of bolting tools onto existing processes, and 2.8 times more likely to increase the number of decisions made without human intervention. (pwc.com) That result lands after a year of mixed signals on AI in the workplace. In June 2025, PwC’s Global AI Jobs Barometer said industries most exposed to AI recorded 27 percent growth in revenue per employee, versus 9 percent in the least exposed industries. (pwc.com) The same 2025 PwC research said workers with artificial intelligence skills received a 56 percent wage premium in 2024, up from 25 percent a year earlier, and that job postings in more AI-exposed roles grew 38 percent. Those figures pointed to rising labor-market value even before many companies could show clean profit gains from pilots. (pwc.com) The Irish Times reported on April 13 that Irish companies are also trailing global peers in adoption and in generating economic returns from artificial intelligence. The paper attributed that assessment to PwC’s analysis. (irishtimes.com) PwC’s message is that the gap is widening between companies still testing artificial intelligence and companies rebuilding operations around it. For most firms, the pilot phase is still proving easier than the profit phase. (pwc.com)
