What every CEO needs to know to succeed with AI

by Jacques Bughin, Michael Chui, and Brian McCarthy

CEOs and other senior executives hear that artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived. But with all the media hype, they often struggle to determine what it can really do and how to deploy it in their businesses. In fact, 41 percent of the 3,000 executives surveyed in a recent McKinsey Global Institute study admitted they’ve yet to adopt AI because they’re unsure about how it can help their organization.

But with AI showing real results for early adopters, it's clear the time to enact an AI strategy is now. To help senior executives separate fact from fiction and start their AI journeys on the right track, we recently shared with the Harvard Business Review the ten most critical things executives need to know about AI:

  1. Don’t believe the hype: Not every business is using AI. . . yet.
  2. Believe the hype: AI can potentially boost your top and bottom lines.
  3. Without support from leadership, your AI transformation might not succeed.
  4. You don’t have to go it alone on AI. Partner for capability and capacity.
  5. Resist the temptation to put technology teams solely in charge of AI initiatives.
  6. Take a portfolio approach to accelerate your AI journey.
  7. Machine learning is a powerful tool, but it’s not right for everything.
  8. Digital capabilities come before AI.
  9. Be bold.
  10. The biggest challenges are people and processes.

To go deeper on these ten crucial issues, see the full article on HBR.org.

Jacques Bughin is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Brussels office and director of the McKinsey Global Institute, Michael Chui is a McKinsey Global Institute partner, and Brian McCarthy is a partner in McKinsey’s Atlanta office.