AI value is stalling because culture is lagging

AI investment has not translated into equivalent business value for many organizations. The technology is advancing, but companies are struggling to create the cultural conditions needed for sustained adoption.

According to ServiceNow’s most recent AI Maturity Index research, only 9% of UK organizations have reached the augmentation stage. Many remain focused on experimentation and expansion, and the familiar pattern is that early enthusiasm fades before AI becomes part of everyday work.

Why employees abandon AI tools

Employees may stop using AI assistants because they fear the technology will eventually replace them or reduce their autonomy. When people feel they are training their own replacements, or losing control over how work gets done, they often return to familiar processes, manual workarounds and spreadsheets.

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That response is not evidence that AI systems do not work. It points to a cultural problem involving trust, skills and workflow design. Organizations need to give teams enough agency to redesign legacy processes and apply AI in ways that support more valuable, growth-focused work.

Employees also need opportunities to use creative skills that previous workflows and employment structures may have limited. The shift cannot be achieved through software deployment alone.

Leaders must shift from cost-cutting to growth

The change needs to begin at the top. According to the perspective from ServiceNow’s UK&I Chief Digital & Technology Officer, some CEOs still treat AI as a way to shrink the cost base rather than as a tool for finding new approaches to the market.

A growth-focused strategy would mean reshaping how teams work, identifying broader use cases and pursuing more ambitious business goals. Instead of allowing employees to become redundant, organizations should retrain them and redirect their knowledge of the business toward new, higher-value roles.

Retraining also cannot be a one-off initiative. Companies need structured pathways for continuous learning and AI skills development, combining personalized learning with hands-on experience. That is how employees can move from experimentation to practical, real-world use.

Culture will determine AI adoption

The next phase of AI adoption will require a mindset centered on growth and the customer. Boards, CIOs, CDOs and CTOs must help employees move beyond narrow task execution and basic digital transformation toward new ways of working.

The answer to stalled AI value is not simply more pilots, larger models or additional licenses. Organizations need to upskill existing teams, rebuild workflows and provide engaged leadership that supports experimentation and change.

Companies that treat their people as the foundation of AI adoption—not as a cost to remove—will be better positioned to turn the technology’s potential into productivity gains and new business models.