C-suite overconfidence in AI could prove bad for business, says survey
In an ever-changing geo-political and economic climate, the key to business success appears to be the ability to adapt.
Add into that the fast-paced world of tech and AI, and if you're not ready for change, you'll get left behind.
'AI is [such] an evolving ecosystem that companies are thinking through introducing a level of agility in their decision-making to give them the capacity to take on what AI is going to bring our way over the next while, without really, completely knowing what the answer is,' Jad Shimaly, global managing partner of client service at EY, told Euronews.
But as companies prepare for increased AI adoption and innovation, are their consumers happy with the risks they're taking?
The true definition of responsible AI appears to be somewhat up for debate, and that could have serious business consequences, according to EY's latest Responsible AI Pulse survey.
'There seems to be a decent gap between C-suite expectations and understanding of what responsible AI and what the risk of AI is and what customer and consumer's expectations are,' Jad explained.
The survey highlighted that, in organisations that have already fully integrated AI, many C-suite leaders 'have misplaced confidence in the strength of their responsible AI practices and their alignment with consumer concerns'.
This could lead to a reduction in consumer trust and a reduced competitive edge for the company, which is only set to increase as things like agentic AI become more prevalent.
'CEOs stand out as an exception — showing greater concern around responsible AI, a viewpoint that's more closely aligned with consumer sentiment,' the report noted, however.
'One in five CEOs think that they have AI risk under control, while a third of their C-suite think that they have AI risks under control,' Jad told Euronews.
'So the CEOs seem to be a bit less comfortable that AI risk is being fully understood and mitigated than their C-suite.'
This difference in perception between CEOs and their senior colleagues is potentially linked to lower awareness levels or lower perceived accountability.
'It may also exhibit an imperfect understanding of the true potential of AI,' the survey added.
Jad was confident, however, that as regulations around responsible AI become clearer and more harmonised across the world, consumers will feel more assured that risks are being sufficiently mitigated.
Related
Businesses set to fail if cyber resilience not most important thing says Splunk strategy head
Air Astana: How can Kazakhstan's flag carrier boost its dwindling share price?
Topics that incited different levels of concern between C-suite individuals and consumers included AI-generated misinformation, the use of AI to manipulate individuals, and AI's impact on vulnerable segments of society.
Both sides weren't hugely concerned by the idea of job losses, the topic where they aligned most.
The survey also found that companies still in the process of integrating AI were much more closely aligned with the level of concern of their consumers, compared to those who had already fully integrated AI.
'Just over half (51%) of [C-suite] in this group believe they're well aligned — compared with 71% of [C-suite] in organisations where AI is already fully integrated across the business,' the survey stated.
Watch the video above to see more from the interview with EY's Jad Shimaly.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
How EY's finance transformation team is approaching AI strategy
This story was originally published on To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily newsletter. As finance leaders face pressure to modernize and deliver ROI on their spending on technology and consulting, EY's finance transformation team is focused on putting emerging technologies to work not just for clients, but inside the firm itself. The team, led by Deirdre Ryan, global finance transformation leader, is playing a dual role: Helping CFOs navigate AI adoption while also piloting those same tools internally across EY's finance and consulting functions. In a recent interview inspired by her session at the Gartner Finance Executive Conference last month, Ryan explains how EY is using agentic AI to reshape FP&A workflows and why being 'client zero' is critical to building credibility in the market. She also discusses how CFOs can avoid repeating past mistakes from automation efforts, what it takes to lead a finance organization through transformation and how to do so with clarity, purpose and psychological safety. Global Finance Transformation Leader, EY Notable previous employers: Deloitte Dontech Dun & Bradstreet This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. DEIRDRE RYAN: We feel very strongly that we have to be client zero. If we're going to advise clients on new technologies, we need to understand them ourselves and use them in real scenarios. We created a platform called EYQ. It's essentially a private environment where our people can interact with large language models securely. We made it accessible on laptops and mobile devices, and it's helped our consultants build hands-on understanding of the tools we're asking clients to adopt. As of recently, we've had over 150,000 consultants using it globally. It's one of the largest private LLMs in the world that EY developed in-house. In finance specifically, we've been building and piloting an agentic AI solution for FP&A. It looks like a normal dashboard, but what makes it powerful is that as actuals come in, it generates AI-driven insights automatically. That's helpful, but the real impact comes from scenario planning. It's built on driver-based forecasting, so we've identified the variables most correlated with forecast accuracy. You can adjust those and instantly see how the outlook changes. It goes even further. We've modeled it so that there are three AI agents working like analysts, with a manager agent that synthesizes and returns the best answer. You can ask something like, 'What would a one percent drop in GDP do to our forecast?' and it does the work. It's not removing human oversight — someone still has to take action — but it's changing the way FP&A work gets done. One client saw it and said, 'I have an army of silent FP&A analysts now.' That stuck with me because that is where the function is headed. That brings up another important point. Psychological safety is something we talk about a lot. When tools like this are introduced, it's natural for teams to wonder what it means for them. They may worry their work is being replaced or question what their future looks like in the function. This is where leadership matters. People entering the workforce today don't want to spend three days in Excel. They want to work with tools that help them think and act strategically. If you're in FP&A and you're given the choice between spending days building a model in spreadsheets or using agentic AI to get that answer instantly and then focusing your time on what to do about it, people are going to choose the latter. That's how you retain talent. If finance doesn't evolve, it risks losing its best people. So yes, we're advising clients on these tools, but we're also living it internally. We're applying it ourselves, and we're navigating the same leadership, talent and change management conversations that our clients are. That's what being client zero means. It's difficult for CFOs today because they still play a very traditional role. They must protect and preserve the assets of the organization and mitigate risk, but now they're being asked in a meaningful way to drive innovation within finance and across the enterprise. They need to understand disruptive technology well enough to make smart capital allocation decisions and guide the business forward. So, CFOs have to start getting their hands dirty. A lot of people I meet have seen demos or presentations, but haven't used the tools themselves. You have to understand the capabilities. Start small — maybe it's a proof of concept to help your team come up the learning curve — but that gives you insight into what these technologies can do. And from there, you can ask the bigger question: How do we apply this in a meaningful way to our finance organization? That's why our team tells CFOs to not just look at the tech, but think about the end game. What do you want your finance function to look like once you've integrated these tools? You have to do some things in parallel, which is tough because CFOs are already being asked to do so much. But this is one of those areas where you can't afford to take a one-track approach. You don't want to repeat what happened with robot process automation. Very few companies realized the value they expected. It became very democratized — people used it to automate a few hours of work here or there — but it didn't lead to large-scale transformation. That's the risk with AI and generative AI. The technology is unbelievably powerful, but without a strategy, you end up with fragmented efforts. You have to ask: Where is the puck going to be, and how do we get there? That means setting a clear end state, helping your finance team come up the learning curve, and avoiding what I call death by a thousand cuts — a little pilot here, a tool there, but no cohesive vision. So, yes, you want experimentation, and maybe that's informal — sharing a cool use case in a meeting. But it also needs to be backed by a very intentional strategy tied to how your finance function delivers value. For this, there are two big buckets I talk about with CFOs. One is productivity, and yes, you can absolutely drive productivity using these tools. We have great examples of that. And honestly, any of my competitors could give you the same 200 use cases for technology within finance. So I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but many of those use cases have been around for a long time. So if you're going to pursue productivity, you need to ask where you're going to get the biggest ROI. What's going to move the needle? The second bucket, and this is where I think the real value is, is decision insight. That's about using these tools to provide better analysis that helps your peers in the C-suite make smarter, faster decisions. And while that's much harder to quantify, I think it's equally important. Sometimes I ask CFOs to imagine a scenario. Let's pretend your data is perfect, it comes in on time and everything is consistently defined. Of course, that never happens, but let's just pretend. What is the kind of analysis you'd want to do on demand that could give you a competitive advantage? And it's interesting, because many CFOs haven't even had the [capacity] to think that way. They're so tied to traditional metrics like revenue and profitability that they haven't had the chance to ask, 'If I had access to better data and AI tools that let me explore it faster, what decisions could I make differently?' That kind of thinking is where AI can really change the game for finance. I think it depends on what you mean by 'a single source of truth'. We all know CFOs need to ensure the financial statements are accurate. And with technology of all types, there has to be a level of trust that the data is producing results that fairly represent the performance of the organization. Do I know any company whose data is 100% perfect all the time? No. Especially not large, acquisitive organizations. But what I always tell clients is, you have to prioritize. Not every data point needs to be perfect, but the ones that drive the most value do need to be consistently defined and captured across the enterprise. You could spend the next 10 or 20 years cleaning data, and it still wouldn't be perfect. The better approach is to identify the data that will drive meaningful analysis and ensure that it's reliable. That way, when you present insights to the executive team, you have confidence in the underlying information and the decisions it supports. It's about being intentional. Know what value you're trying to unlock, and focus on the data that supports that value. Recommended Reading How PwC's tax team is using agentic AI Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Yahoo
What Makes Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) One of the Best Dividend Picks This Year
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is one of the Best Stocks to Buy for Dividends. Engineers using the latest Cisco TelePresence technology to collaborate with colleagues around the world. The company's business remains on solid footing. In March, it introduced its Webex AI agent designed for customer service applications, marking progress in its innovation efforts. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is also effectively managing expenses, with operating costs in fiscal Q3 of 2025 remaining flat compared to the previous year. A slight improvement in gross margin led to a healthy rise in operating income. While the company still generates much of its revenue from established areas like routing and switching, these segments provide a steady cash flow that supports its ongoing business transformation. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) continues to return significant capital to shareholders, backed by strong free cash flow. The stock offers a 2.4% dividend yield and benefits from a newly approved $15 billion share buyback program. In the most recent quarter, the company generated $4.1 billion in operating cash flow, up 2% from the same period last year, and returned $3.1 billion to shareholders through dividends and repurchases. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO)'s acquisition strategy also supports its dividend outlook, especially when deals boost cash flow. A notable example is the company's 2024 acquisition of Splunk, which added about $1.4 billion to fiscal 2024 revenue. It currently offers a quarterly dividend of $0.41 per share. While we acknowledge the potential of CSCO as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and . Disclosure. None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Mastercard unveils UK A2A instant payments sandbox
Mastercard is set to provide UK banks and financial institutions with a groundbreaking platform to innovate and test account-to-account (A2A) instant payments technology. Later this year, the company will open access to its fifth-generation A2A instant payments sandbox, designed to foster collaboration and modernise the UK's payment ecosystem. The sandbox environment will enable experimentation with new payment flows, including retail and digital assets, across various use cases. It aims to support the development of advanced services such as the "5-leg credit transfer" with instant payment confirmation, enhancing merchant and consumer payment options. Adhering to the international ISO20022 standards, the sandbox will offer significant improvements in transaction data richness. This advancement is expected to boost fraud detection capabilities and pave the way for future innovations in the payment sector. The UK government's National Payments Vision (NPV), published at the end of last year, sets ambitious goals for the payment sector's contribution to economic growth. Mastercard's A2A sandbox aligns with this vision, providing a platform for banks and fintechs to prepare for the next phase of the UK's payment evolution. An EY report from March 2025 highlighted the potential for a £9bn annual uplift to the UK's GDP through the modernisation of A2A infrastructure. The sandbox represents a critical step in unlocking this growth, serving as a testing ground for new infrastructure capabilities and products. Mastercard's Next Generation A2A Instant Payment platform underpins the sandbox, offering a cloud-ready solution with user-friendly front-end tools and a developer portal, as well as robust back-end functionality with API access for easy integration. Mastercard Real Time Payments executive vice president Peter Reynolds said: 'Account-to-account payments in the UK are already an enormous part of the UK's financial landscape. The Mastercard A2A instant payments Sandbox opens our innovative technology to our partners to develop and test new potential services. Alongside the UK government's National Payments Vision, we're setting out a bold vision of the future in A2A real-time payments.' The sandbox was showcased at UK Finance's Digital Innovation Summit on 24 June, emphasising its role in accelerating retail payments. In September 2024, Mastercard updated its Consumer Fraud Risk (CFR) solution to increase the ways it helps protect consumers from Real Time Payment scams. The AI-powered insights give more UK banks greater visibility into potentially fraudulent transactions so they can stop scams before they take place. "Mastercard unveils UK A2A instant payments sandbox" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
