C-suite executives and AI leaders are still reluctant to fully embrace the potential of AI, according to a new survey conducted by Teradata by NewtonX. The survey revealed that many executives lack confidence in their company’s strategy to execute AI initiatives, and don’t trust their data to generate accurate AI outputs. 

The survey finds that 7 in 10 executives said their AI strategy is not fully aligned with their business strategy, while 61 percent said they fully trust the reliability and validity of their AI outputs. Meanwhile, 40 percent do not believe their company’s data is ready to achieve accurate outcomes.

“The foundation of AI is clean, reliable, trustworthy data because it is the backbone of AI outputs,” said Jacqueline Woods, chief marketing officer at Teradata. “While achieving complete trust remains elusive for many executives, our survey shows a deepening understanding of how to reach trusted AI at enterprise-scale and confirms that Teradata is well positioned to help its customers with these business objectives.”

It appears executives understand the importance of AI in a competitive business climate, with 89 percent of enterprise executives believing AI is necessary to stay competitive. Only 56 percent said their companies have a clear AI strategy, and 28 percent see their AI strategy as closely aligned with and supporting broader business objectives. 

The study found that despite the most successful AI implementations occurring at the departmental level only 12 percent of companies have deployed AI solutions company-wide, while 39 percent have implemented AI in select departments.

Many companies identified themselves as early adopters, with 73 percent reporting they had onboarded the technology, however, 60 percent said their level of AI adoption is simply “on par” with their competitors and 27 percent see themselves as leading AI adoption in their industries.

Executives reported they want to see reliable and validated outcomes, with 52 percent reporting this as their top priority, while 45 percent said consistency and repeatability of results mattered most.  

Other key aspects to building trust identified in the survey were security, with 61 percent of executives noting this was a key aspect of trusted AI, followed by transparency at 55 percent and governance at 45 percent. 

Approximately 84 percent of respondents said they expect to see results from AI projects within a year of deployment, and 58 percent said the results would have to be quantifiable within six months. 

“There is tremendous opportunity to improve AI trust by ensuring greater cohesion between business and AI plans.” Woods said.