Mind the AI Gap, Lest You Fall In

It’s hard to believe that ChatGPT was only launched in November 2022. Since then, AI use in the workplace has become as commonplace as having Wi-Fi access. According to Stanford University’s 2025 AI Index Report, 78% of organizations reported using AI in 2024.

But just because everyone’s using AI doesn’t mean everyone’s benefiting equally.

According to a recent Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) report, only 5% of companies are currently “future-built” to extract substantive value from AI. 1 Meanwhile, 60% of companies are getting minimal value out of AI, despite substantial investment.

This means that we’re starting to see AI create a widening value gap between companies that are accelerating their business using AI and those that are lagging behind.

So, what’s driving the AI value gap?

For starters, the companies generating significant value from AI aren’t just using AI to automate existing work; they’re using AI to redesign it.

There are several AI models that businesses can leverage, and they include:

• Predictive AI: forecasting future outcomes
• Generative AI: creating content
• Vision AI: analyzing visual data
• Large language models: handle complex language tasks

Enter agentic AI, the latest evolution in AI implementation.
A quick primer: AI agents are “digital workers” that can autonomously make decisions and perform tasks, thus achieving complex goals with limited human input. Whereas generative AI is used to draft, edit, and assist in problem-solving (e.g., generating analyses or draft solutions), agentic AI combines generative AI with predictive AI. The content generation capability is thus embedded in a larger system of decision-making and tool-use. Stated differently, agentic AI is structured to carry out goal-directed, multi-step processes and make decisions toward solving more complex tasks.

BCG’s report found that a third of all AI future-built companies are currently using AI agents, compared to almost none in the 60% of companies seeing little value-add. These future-built companies are allocating 15% of their AI budgets to agents.

Early-stage adopters are using agentic AI as virtual assistants and customer service chatbots. But future-built companies also use agentic AI to redesign their workflows and reinvent how work gets done. This means building completely new processes, rather than layering AI on top of their
existing ones.

Future-built companies are also reinvesting their gains back into people and tech.

It should come as no surprise that companies at the forefront of AI adoption heavily invest in upskilling employees to be AI-literate.

This is a pretty crucial piece to the puzzle.

We’ve all seen news headlines about companies laying off workers whose roles have been replaced by AI. That’s understandably caused fears among workers who wonder about the fate of their jobs.

When companies start rewarding workers who master AI systems quickly, uncertainty can quickly turn into resistance or resentment. Workers who struggle to adapt get left behind and feel demotivated and undervalued. This can lead to a workplace divide between the haves and the have-nots: those who have tech capabilities and can adopt AI to unlock greater efficiencies in their jobs, and those who don’t.

A survey by Writer.com found that 68% of C-suite execs said that generative AI adoption was causing a division in their company, with 42% claiming it’s “tearing the company apart.” That’s right, Karen’s gossiping isn’t the only thing causing workplace drama anymore.

On the balance sheet, this divide also translates into a real cost for the business. Resistance undermines productivity, team friction grows, and eventually, company turnover begins to rise.

All this underscores the importance of strategic collaboration between human workers and AI. Companies that bridge this gap stand to gain the most.

So how can companies improve their AI skills gap and keep up with the competition?

To start, companies need to invest in their AI capabilities. BCG’s report shows that AI future-built companies plan to spend 26% more on IT than the companies that see no value from AI. Of that budget, these companies are spending 64% more on AI specifically.

BCG also highlights five key strategies in its playbook on AI future-built companies:

1. Lead with a multi-year strategic AI ambition
2. Reshape workflows and invent new ones
3. Transform to an AI-first operating model rooted in human-machine collaboration
4. Leverage the right talent
5. Use technology and data that’s fit for purpose

A point that underpins these strategies is that AI should be used to enhance, rather than replace, human capabilities. AI tools should be available to everyone, not just select teams or top performers. Adoption should also be paired with robust training and clear communication from leadership. If companies want to stay innovative, then AI needs to be treated as an opportunity to amplify skills, and not as a threat to jobs.

One final word of advice: Adapting to an AI age requires companies to act quickly. The pace of change is only accelerating (and certainly faster than your IT guy can say, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”). It’s only a matter of time before the companies that can’t keep up find themselves on the wrong side of the gap.

Our Bonus Two Cents:
¹ BCG defines “future-built” on page 3 of its report: “The difference is that the top 5% of companies, which we call future-built, have put in place the critical capabilities needed to make AI work at the level of innovation and reinvention as well as to boost efficiencies. Not only are these companies outperforming the competition, but they have also opened a value gap and are pulling further ahead as they reinvest the proceeds from their earlier success in new capabilities, tools, and innovations. Future-built companies are achieving a transformative effect on value creation by catalyzing better decisions and faster and more efficient actions, targeting step changes that go far beyond what is possible from automation and productivity increases.”

©2025. DailyDAC^TM, LLC d/b/a/ Financial Poise^TM. This article is subject to the disclaimers found here.

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