Generative artificial intelligence is transitioning from a curious toy to an indispensable tool that more companies are integrating into daily operations, according to a new report by Wharton experts and marketing consultancy GBK Collective.

“Growing Up: Navigating Gen AI’s Early Years” is a survey of more than 800 senior business leaders in large organizations that reveals a seismic shift in their attitudes and applications of AI in just a short time. In 2023, the first year of the survey, only 37% reported using AI weekly. That number has risen to 72% in 2024. Negative perceptions, namely worry and skepticism, are softening as decision-makers explore how this evolving technology can help their firms become better.

“I was quite pleased to see the results. The picture we are getting is that people are learning about gen AI — and what they are learning, they like,” said Wharton marketing professor Stefano Puntoni, who is also faculty co-director of AI at Wharton. He wrote the report along with Jeremy Korst, partner at GBK Collective, and Mary Purk, executive director of AI at Wharton.

According to the survey, generative AI is being widely deployed across functions, even in departments such as marketing and human resources that were initially slower to adopt it. The highest use is in document and proposal writing and editing with 64%, followed closely by data analyses and analytics at 62%. Other high-use functions include customer service and support (58%), fraud detection and prevention (55%), and financial forecasting and planning (53%).

Puntoni said the survey also shows the gap is closing between the two extreme beliefs about AI being either a harbinger of doom or a gateway to utopia. As people become more acquainted with it, they are less curious and less fearful. They’re more willing to experiment with AI while understanding its limitations, including false information known as hallucinations. Survey participants cited accuracy, bias, data privacy, team integration, and ethics as their top concerns.

“The big rewards [from AI] are not going to come from doing things better; the big rewards are going to come from doing better things.”— Stefano Puntoni

“You should think of it as a tool, and tools are not intrinsically bad,” Puntoni said. “The danger is that you come to accept anything it says, and we need to build in systems to fact check.”

Looking Ahead

Puntoni said the survey is generally positive about the future of AI, but he did not want to speculate about what the same questions might reveal five years from now. However, he’s sure about one thing: Organizations will keep experimenting with AI to figure out how it works best for them. And as it evolves, so will the other technology required to make it more useable and practical, such as voice interface.

“I don’t believe the hallucination problem is ever going to be completely solved, but it’s clear we are making massive progress,” he said. “There’s a lot of gas in the tank in terms of learning how to use this technology and developing complementary innovation.”

Although AI has been in development for decades, Puntoni and his colleagues agree that the rapid advancements of the last few years have ushered in a new era, one in which the transitions will come much faster than, say, the 40 years it took factories to move from using steam engines to using electricity.

“This is only the beginning,” Puntoni said. “I think the big rewards are not going to come from doing things better; the big rewards are going to come from doing better things.”

Read more about the report and download a copy here.