Tag: AI adoption
145 articles tagged AI adoption
UK business AI use doubles to 32%, but few call it critical: survey
The government's second AI adoption survey found 32% of UK businesses using AI, up from 16%, yet only 14% rate it high or critical and 64% saw no immediate cost effect.
Barclays makes chief of staff Anita Tanna its first chief AI officer
Barclays has named group chief of staff Anita Tanna as its first chief AI officer, joining HSBC, as the bank cuts about 5,000 jobs this year and scales up AI.
MS Amlin's 'Wordy Bot' aims to halve reinsurance wording reviews
Insurer MS Amlin has deployed an AI tool, built in London and Singapore, that checks reinsurance contracts against its standards before 1 January renewals.
Half use AI chatbots weekly, but UK lags and is wariest of AI news
Reuters Institute survey: weekly AI use hit 51% across six countries, yet the UK has the lowest use, at 42%, and is the most negative about AI's effect on news.
Firms adopt AI faster than it pays off, Productivity Institute says
Productivity Institute research for Bytes finds only 6% of firms get 5% or more of profits from AI, and puts the UK productivity prize at 0.5-0.7 points a year.
BoE and FCA survey: 80% of surveyed finance firms run AI agents
The fourth BoE and FCA survey finds 86% of responding UK financial firms use AI, most run agents with limited autonomy, and reliance on third parties is rising.
Britain's railway takes on its first 20 AI engineering apprentices
Twenty AI engineering apprentices began in York and London on 22 September, as GBRX tackles the skills gap it named as a key brake on AI adoption in rail.
Microsoft survey: 84% of UK bosses but 41% of staff back AI ambition
Censuswide polling for Microsoft finds UK leaders far more confident than workers that Britain can lead on AI, and both groups want skills help from ministers.
EY: only 14% of UK CEOs have a full view of AI costs and returns
Half of UK chief executives in EY-Parthenon's CEO Outlook credit AI tools with productivity gains, but only 14% can fully see what AI costs and what it returns.
Reed: 52% of hiring managers say AI is cutting UK job openings
Recruiter Reed finds over half of UK hiring managers think AI is shrinking job opportunities, and boss James Reed wants higher taxes on firms replacing staff.
UK AI job ads up 51% to 100,000, but London dominates, Accenture says
Accenture counts about 100,000 UK AI vacancies in six months, up 51%, with London listing six times as many as Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester.
60% of UK law firms see clients taking work in-house with AI tools
HSBC’s survey of over 100 UK law firm leaders finds 60% citing clients bringing work in-house with AI and 73% calling AI integration a major challenge.
Over half of UK CFOs expect AI to cut headcount within a year
Deloitte's Q3 CFO Survey finds 52% expect AI to reduce headcount and 48% lower costs within 12 months, while most say adoption is only a quarter of the way.
Crowe survey finds 80% of UK manufacturers now using or trialling AI
Crowe and the Confederation of British Metalforming find AI use among UK manufacturers up from 52% to 80%, with 72% engaged in or exploring defence work.
FRP survey finds Scottish AI speed gains often offset by costs
FRP Advisory research finds Scottish mid-market firms deliver faster with AI, but 53% say rising costs elsewhere cancel the benefit, and lenders are doubtful.
Anthropic takes up to half of UK firms' AI spend, card data shows
September's Business Spend Pulse puts Anthropic at up to half of UK firms' AI spending, ChatGPT's share at 36%, and consulting and PR use at 4.2% of businesses.
PwC: 19% of UK workers use AI daily, and 44% of users report more work
PwC's UK Hopes and Fears survey shows daily AI use rising and junior staff catching up, but 44% of AI users say their workload has grown rather than shrunk.
Baillie Gifford to pipe manager decision analytics into its AI
The Edinburgh investment manager is a founding partner in a service that puts behavioural data on its own portfolio managers' choices into its AI tools.
UKRI explores AI grant assessment as other funders hold back
The national funding agency is the only member of an eight-funder policy group actively looking at AI assessment beyond eligibility checks.
UK economy grows 0.4% in July as ONS points to AI and cloud firms
Computer programming output rose 3.5% and added 0.12 points to GDP. The statistics office links the jump to AI and cloud firms but says it cannot measure the effect.
Employers are starting to promote on AI fluency
Bonuses, rankings and review criteria increasingly turn on tool use. A UK employment lawyer says it is lawful, but the fairness questions are unresolved.
AWS says Whitehall must lead before business follows on AI
New vendor research puts UK public bodies ahead of the wider economy on advanced AI use, and finds four in five firms would move faster with a state lead.
Insolvency professionals want AI rules nobody has written
An R3 survey finds 52% already using Copilot or ChatGPT but under 10% touching machine learning, with indemnity cover and regulatory silence the main brakes.
Most UK bosses think shadow AI is already in their firm
A survey of more than 1,000 UK decision-makers finds 88% believe unapproved AI is in use, and 51% fear staff are pasting sensitive data into those tools.
Deutsche Bank puts the UK top for AI labour disruption
A 30-country analysis names Britain as the major economy most exposed to AI, citing a large share of affected roles and heavy reliance on services exports.
PwC buys 20-person London AI consultancy for deals work
Strategy& is acquiring Datasparq, whose clients include GSK and easyJet, to build AI and data capability into PwC's private equity and transaction advisory.
Bosses rate their AI rollouts higher than the staff do
Executives call 69% of deployments successful; the people using the tools say 53%. In audit and tax the figure drops to 43%, and distrust is now a top barrier.
Bosses rate their AI rollouts higher than their staff do
Survey finds 69% of executives call AI deployments successful against 53% of the practitioners using the tools, with accountancy the most sceptical.
Scottish manufacturers use AI daily but 68% train nobody
Scottish Engineering survey data shows 72% of firms have staff using AI regularly, while two-thirds provide no formal training and only 5% have a strategy.
Conveyancers say AI handles the admin, not the judgement
A practitioner roundtable found AI reliable on file reviews and query summaries, but still checked by hand wherever legal interpretation or client advice is involved.
Employers warned over AI-drafted grievances before 2027 rules
Over half of UK HR professionals report a rise in AI-written complaints, arriving before Employment Rights Act changes let staff claim unfair dismissal sooner.
Half of UK small firms see no place for AI in their business
Novuna research finds 31% of small business owners already use AI while 48% either have no plans to or think it irrelevant, with sharp regional splits.
Bank of England finds early signs AI is lifting productivity
Staff research using ONS industry data finds AI-producing sectors driving productivity gains, echoing the first phase of the computing revolution.
Lancashire puts Copilot in front of thousands of staff
The council says AI drafting of case notes has cut duplication in social work recording, with around two-thirds of its workforce now using the tools.
UK insurers are betting big on AI without proving it works
Aviva, AXA, Direct Line and Admiral have all shipped AI into core products this year, yet none has published data separating AI's effect from everything else.
UK AI adoption hits 35% without the expected job losses
ONS data shows just under 7% of medium-sized adopters cut headcount, while US research finds employment in highly AI-exposed occupations has stayed stable.
UK firms adopt AI widely but shallowly, ONS finds
ONS data shows AI use in UK businesses tripled to 35% since 2023, but the average adopter still runs just 1.6 tools and only 10% use AI extensively.
West Midlands SMEs offered 50 funded AI feasibility reports
A new West Midlands Digital Accelerator offers 50 funded AI feasibility reports to regional SMEs, after a survey found budget the biggest adoption blocker.
Public-sector AI: 65% of UK government staff experimenting, only 30% integrated
FSP's Dr Jennifer Barth says UK public sector AI use is stuck between pilot and integration, with 41% of workers feeling unsupported in using the tools.
Accenture rolls Microsoft Copilot out to all 743,000 employees
Accenture is deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to its entire 743,000-strong workforce in the largest enterprise rollout to date — a major reference win for Microsoft.
HMRC rolls Microsoft Copilot out to 28,000 staff after Whitehall trial
HM Revenue and Customs licenses Copilot for tens of thousands of officials and prepares agentic features, citing 26 minutes saved per user per day.
Birmingham haulage SME uses AI to cut missed deliveries by 22%
Mobile People Powered Logistics credits AI-automated customer calls and system integration for quadrupled revenue and a 22% fall in rescheduled deliveries.
FinTech Wales and AI Wales launch joint AI Hub for Welsh firms
A new free-to-join AI Hub connects Wales's fintech ecosystem with 2,200 AI practitioners to accelerate practical adoption across Welsh businesses.
UK Ministry of Defence seeks digital chief to accelerate AI and quantum adoption
The MoD is recruiting a Chief Digital Technology Officer with a £140.7 million budget and a mandate to drive AI adoption across defence, working with NATO and Five Eyes partners.
PwC Tells Partners to Embrace AI or Leave the Firm
PwC US chief Paul Griggs warns that partners resisting AI adoption will be replaced, as the firm launches an automated services platform and shifts away from hourly billing.
How solicitors are using AI for contract review
The Law Society examines real-world AI adoption in legal contract management, from document summarisation to large-scale due diligence and agentic workflows.
Public Support for NHS AI Is Uneven, Health Foundation Study Finds
A Health Foundation survey of 8,000 UK adults shows women, younger people and those on low incomes are less positive about AI in healthcare.
Legacy IT Debt Slowing AI Adoption Across UK Public Sector
New research shows 84% of UK government organisations carry Windows technical debt, with three in five saying legacy systems block AI adoption.
UK Startups Are Choosing AI Over New Hires as Employment Costs Rise
New UK businesses generated an average of 2.7 jobs each last year — one fewer than when records began — as founders turn to AI and freelancers.
Study Finds 80% of Firms Report No AI Impact on Productivity
A major NBER study of nearly 6,000 executives across four countries found most firms have seen no measurable productivity gains from AI adoption.
Workplace AI Adoption Flatlining Despite Initial Excitement, Survey Finds
Gallup research shows total AI users unchanged quarter-over-quarter, with 49% of US workers never using AI at work. Data infrastructure gaps blamed for 95% getting zero ROI.
UK Treasury Appoints AI Champions to Accelerate Financial Services Adoption
Starling Bank and Lloyds executives named as AI Champions to help financial firms seize AI opportunities while maintaining consumer protection.
OpenAI Outlines Vision for AI Self-Empowerment
OpenAI publishes principles for managing the 'capability overhang' between AI potential and actual adoption, emphasising access and individual empowerment.
Law Firm Shoosmiths Awards £1m Bonus After Staff Hit 1 Million AI Prompts Target
UK law firm becomes first to link firmwide bonus to AI adoption, rewarding staff after reaching Microsoft Copilot usage milestone four months early.
Anthropic Reveals What 1,250 Professionals Really Think About Working with AI
New AI-powered interview tool uncovers how workers across industries are integrating AI, with scientists wanting partnership but struggling to trust it for core research.
Marc Andreessen: Treat AI as a Thought Partner to Unlock Its Full Potential
The venture capitalist shares prompting strategies that transform AI from a simple tool into the 'world's best coach and advisor'.
AI Productivity Gains Offer UK Economic Reboot as Budget Looms
UK accountancy firm cuts report completion from two weeks to two hours using AI, raising hopes Britain's services-heavy economy can escape productivity stagnation.
Klarna Halves Workforce with AI, Increases Remaining Staff Salaries by 60%
Buy now, pay later company Klarna cuts headcount from 5,527 to 2,907 since 2022 through AI adoption, whilst boosting average employee compensation from $126k to $203k.
Businesses Expect AI Benefits But 46% Lack ROI Measurement Frameworks
Wavestone survey reveals 80% of organisations expect operational AI benefits within two years, yet nearly half lack structured ROI tracking as project failure rates reach 85%.
AI Tools Boost UK Accountancy Firms' Profits by £338 Million
Xero research reveals 98% of UK accounting firms now use AI, saving employees 19 hours weekly and increasing productivity by 31%, whilst hiring more non-accounting professionals.
98% of Market Researchers Use AI Daily, but 4 in 10 Say It Makes Errors
Market researchers report saving 5+ hours weekly with AI tools, yet 39% cite increased reliance on error-prone technology, revealing fundamental tension between productivity gains and trustworthiness.
Shopify Reports 7x AI Traffic Growth, 11x Increase in AI-Driven Orders
E-commerce platform announces dramatic AI-driven commerce growth since January, with 64% of shoppers indicating likely AI usage for purchases amid agentic commerce push.
Younger Workers Are Skipping Meetings and Trusting AI to Take Notes
One-fifth of workers now use AI note-taking tools, with hybrid workers twice as likely to adopt them. Users report promotions and higher salaries, but concerns remain about nuance and overreliance.
KPMG to Include AI Adoption in Staff Performance Reviews from 2026
Big Four firm will assess employee AI usage in annual reviews, monitoring engagement with tools like Microsoft Copilot whilst maintaining focus on development rather than punishment.
28 Million Brits Turn to AI for Money Management, Lloyds Reveals
Lloyds Banking Group research shows AI has become the UK's most popular application, with ChatGPT leading usage for investment research and financial planning.
We're All Experimenting: The Quiet Middle Ground of AI Adoption
Most organisations stand in unglamorous middle ground of AI experimentation—moving beyond pilots but before full integration. This disciplined practice builds competitive advantage through architecture, not hype.