It’s Time to Cross the GenAI Divide

The new MIT report, The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025, provides an important perspective for Boards and executives. It shows that while adoption of generative AI is widespread, 95 percent of companies are delivering no measurable return despite investing US$30–40 billion. A small group, however, is capturing significant value through integrated AI ventures that are designed to learn, adapt, and embed directly into business processes. The critical question for leadership is therefore not whether to invest in AI, but how to shape the approach so that the organisation is positioned to succeed.

Takeaway 1: Most Pilots Struggle – But Integrated AI-driven Ventures Deliver Results

The report highlights that only around 5 percent of GenAI pilots have delivered measurable outcomes. The majority fail because they do not integrate into workflows, adapt to business context, or improve over time. In contrast, AI-native ventures that design adaptive and embedded systems are scaling quickly—moving from pilots to seven-figure revenues within months. This suggests that companies cannot rely on incremental SaaS pilots alone. Greater value comes from creating or partnering with AI-native ventures that are purpose-built to learn, adapt, and integrate deeply into core operations.

Takeaway 2: Success Depends on Approach, Not Just Technology

The GenAI Divide is not primarily about model quality or regulation—it is about approach. Internal builds often take longer and face higher failure rates, while partnerships with AI-native ventures or investments in specialist founders tend to achieve stronger results. Successful companies start small, target high-value investment cases, and rapidly move from incubation to scale. Boards can play a role by encouraging innovation practices, ensuring processes exist to build or invest in AI ventures, and promoting a mindset that treats generative AI as a strategic growth driver rather than just another IT investment.

Takeaway 3: The Window is Closing – Early Entrants Are Establishing an Edge

The report notes that enterprises are already locking in vendor relationships with learning-capable AI systems, creating high switching costs. Once embedded, these systems establish durable competitive moats through data, workflow integration, and emerging agentic infrastructure. The window of opportunity is likely to be no more than the next 18 months. Companies that delay risk finding that markets consolidate around early leaders, leaving fewer opportunities to catch up. Acting with intent now can position organisations to benefit from this consolidation rather than be constrained by it.

Practical Leadership Considerations

The report’s findings can be used as practical guidance for shaping boardroom and executive discussions:

• Encouraging management to move beyond experimentation and identify AI-native opportunities where measurable business value can be demonstrated.
• Strengthening partnerships with experienced AI-native ventures or venture builders, especially where workflow integration is essential.
• Considering timing carefully, recognising that early movers may capture advantages that become increasingly difficult to replicate.

Conclusion

The GenAI Divide shows that while many organisations are still finding their footing, a smaller group is already translating AI into measurable results. Boards do not need to predict exactly how disruption will unfold, but they do need to ensure that their organisations are learning, experimenting, and investing in ways that create pathways to scale. By building or partnering with AI-driven ventures, companies can better capture the opportunities of generative AI and avoid the risk of being left behind by faster, AI-native competitors.

If interested in exploring how you could benefit from building your AI-native Venture, then connect with us.

Tom Dissing is the founder and Managing Director of Technology Connect. He helps boards and executives drive growth and avoid disruption through artificial intelligence (AI), innovation and venture building

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