This article was originally published in the World Economic Forum on September 9, 2025.
Three years into the generative AI revolution, most CEOs say they understand the transformative potential of AI. Now, a small but growing group of early adopters are finally starting to show it.
In all, 17% of companies with revenues of $1 billion or more report they are seeing a cost saving or revenue jump of at least 10% from the technology, according to a recent survey of New York Stock Exchange-listed companies by the Oliver Wyman Forum and the New York Stock Exchange. The percentage was similar, at 14%, for the 77 European firms that responded to a separate Oliver Wyman Forum survey due to be published later this month.
While winning the first lap of the AI race doesn’t guarantee victory, there is much that other companies can learn from these frontrunners. Unlike the back-of-the-packers, leaders aren’t waiting for proof or feasibility cases to implement AI. They are using it to drive innovation and transform their companies by applying it across the business and ensuring that employees have the AI skills they need to experiment and understand the company objectives.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the three attributes of AI leaders.
They make AI a strategic imperative
Leading companies embed AI into their strategy, making it a fundamental driver of innovation, growth and competitive advantage, rather than just using it on pilot projects. Nearly half — 46% — cited long-term business transformation and technology and AI among their top three priorities for creating shareholder value in the next two years.
Likewise, 70% of the CEOs of AI leaders rank technology and AI as a force that would have the biggest impact on their competitiveness during the next five to 10 years, compared with 45% of CEOs of non-AI-leaders. And, half of the AI leading CEOs worry that they’re not moving fast enough and could be left behind by competitors.
Leaders also focus on projects that provide a return on investment (ROI) and are seven times more likely than others to say it’s not too early to assess ROI. Almost 80% of this group say their AI investments have met or exceeded expectations, compared with 28% of CEOs of non-AI-leaders. A third said that more than 20% of revenue comes from AI-enabled products and services.
While most companies still use it incrementally, AI will provide significantly more value when business uses it to reimagine work, rather than optimize current processes. Even AI leaders have bottlenecks in which humans handle the workflows, limiting the ability to capture enterprise-level value.
But success stories abound. One North American restaurant chain, for example, deployed an AI virtual assistant to chat with job candidates, answer company questions, collect basic information, schedule interviews and make offers in real time. The AI platform helped it cut hiring time to four days from 12, while increasing application completion rates from 50% to 85%.
They seize opportunities in uncertain times
Leading companies know their customers and how to serve them, so they recognize that today’s uncertainty can be an opportunity. This clarity enables them to make quick decisions about their core purpose and AI. They’re 30% more likely to see talent and workforce turbulence as an opportunity and over 40% more likely to treat shifting customer needs as a chance to pull ahead.
Most retailers, for example, bought more 'just-in-case' inventory when ports clogged during the 2020-21 supply-chain crunch. One global big-box chain, however, used AI to predict demand for every product and shifted stock between outlets in days, not weeks — the result was 30% fewer out-of-stocks and less inventory bloat.
They activate employees
Organizations spend millions of dollars a year on AI technology, but overlook one of their most important resources — their employees. Workers, on average, should expect 39% of their existing skill sets to be changed or outdated between 2025 and 2030, according to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025.
Leading companies embed the technology into daily work and provide the tools and training that workers need to use it. Employees at these companies are nearly twice as likely to have received formal AI training than non-leading firms. They’re more than three times likely to use AI on a daily basis and twice as likely to say that AI has transformed collaboration.
And, while many workers worry about AI, it can also result in greater job satisfaction, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Employment Outlook 2023. Employees at leading firms are almost three times more likely to believe strongly in their company’s future and twice as likely to feel secure about their jobs during AI transitions, according to global consumer surveys by the Oliver Wyman Forum. These confident workers are more likely to join AI pilots, propose process improvements and troubleshoot implementation, while uncertain workers are more likely to wait for clear directives and create friction around change.
And, as non-AI-leaders emphasize external partnerships and financial resilience, AI leaders focus on internal transformation and technology capabilities. One global biopharmaceutical company, for example, was able to get 80% of its workforce to use its internal ChatGPT platform within six months and co-created 750 task-specific GPT 'co-workers' in under eight weeks. This effort is enabling the firm to compress cycle times in clinical trials and regulatory work into days or hours, rather than weeks.
While today’s leaders aren’t guaranteed a spot on the podium, companies that move first become natural laboratories and identify early what works and why. They will make mistakes, but AI is advancing so quickly that the compounded advantages could create a narrow window for slow starters to catch up.