Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mohamed Kande, the global chairman of PwC, offered a blunt assessment. More than half of companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence, he said, are getting “nothing” in return.
The figure comes from PwC’s latest global CEO survey, which found that 56 percent of companies report no measurable business value from their AI investments, even as spending and adoption accelerate. According to Kande, the disconnect stems from a failure to do the foundational work—clean data, redesigned processes, and clear strategic intent—before layering AI on top.
“AI has become a pressure point,” Kande noted, describing a moment in which chief executives are expected to run existing operations, transform them in real time, and simultaneously prepare for entirely new business models.
A New Burden on the CEO
Kande argued that the role of the CEO has changed more in the past year than in the previous quarter century. Leaders are now navigating unprecedented complexity: short-term operational demands collide with long-term technological bets, while economic uncertainty clouds decision-making.
PwC’s data reflects this anxiety. While many CEOs express optimism about the global economy, confidence drops sharply when asked about their own companies’ growth prospects. Only three in ten expect revenue growth over the next year—the lowest level in five years.
This uncertainty, Kande suggested, is also reshaping how companies think about talent. As AI absorbs routine work, traditional entry-level roles and career ladders may need to be reimagined, raising questions about how future leaders will be trained.
The Risk of Buying the Same Brain
A parallel warning has emerged from the technology policy world. Mehdi Paryavi, chief executive of the International Data Center Authority, cautioned that widespread reliance on identical AI tools could actively erode competitiveness.
“If you and your competitor are all using the same service, you have no edge over each other,” Paryavi said. As AI tools become cheaper and more powerful, he argued, companies risk outsourcing not just tasks but thinking itself—flattening innovation as everyone “buys the same brain.”
Paryavi likened the current AI boom to the early 2000s rush to cloud computing, when firms eagerly outsourced infrastructure, only to later bring workloads back in-house to regain control, reduce costs, and escape vendor lock-in. With AI, he warned, the stakes are even higher.
“AI will zombify you, make your brain redundant, and produce substandard work, the day humans stop thinking and reasoning.” noted Prof. Triveni Singh, Ex-IPS, Cybercrime Investigation Expert.
Efficiency Today, Fragility Tomorrow
Both leaders converged on a deeper concern: over time, treating AI as a shortcut to efficiency may hollow out human judgment, institutional knowledge, and decision-making capacity.
While AI can deliver speed and cost savings in the short term, Paryavi warned that standardized systems may leave businesses competing solely on price and velocity—sacrificing originality, strategic depth, and resilience. Kande, for his part, urged executives to focus on long-term trends rather than short-term disruptions.
“I’m an optimist,” Kande said, but he emphasized that optimism must be paired with discipline. Without careful groundwork and differentiated strategy, the promise of artificial intelligence risks becoming another costly corporate illusion—efficient on paper, but fragile in practice.
