When chief financial officers at some of Britain's largest companies look at artificial intelligence, they increasingly like what they see. A recent Deloitte survey found that 73 percent are now optimistic about AI improving their organisations' performance. That is up from 59 percent at the end of last year and 39 percent two years ago. The shift matters because these are the people who watch the balance sheet most closely.
Ninety-six percent of those surveyed expect UK companies to increase investment in digital technology and assets over the next five years. At the same time, their rating for concerns over poor productivity and weak competitiveness has stayed steady at 63 out of 100. The message is clear. Business leaders recognise both the opportunity and the persistent gap that technology must help close.
Geopolitical risks have eased somewhat in their eyes, with the average rating falling to 68 from 79 earlier this year. Worries about energy price disruption have also come down, from 70 to 60. Yet the underlying pressures remain. Higher energy costs continue to weigh on British firms, and the broader economic environment offers little comfort.
Debapratim De, Deloitte UK chief economist, said that the global economy had weathered the Iran conflict better than expected but that concerns over geopolitics and domestic competitiveness remained elevated and that finance leaders continued to prioritise cost reduction.
This realism from finance chiefs deserves attention. They are not waiting for ministers to set the direction. Instead they are making their own calculations about where value lies and acting accordingly. That private-sector drive has long been the engine of technological adoption in Britain. It is a reminder that genuine progress tends to come from entrepreneurs and managers who bear the costs and reap the rewards, not from central plans drawn up in Whitehall.
The survey, released on 19 July, captures a quiet but important trend. As optimism about AI rises, so does the recognition that Britain cannot afford to fall further behind. Productivity has been a national weakness for years. If artificial intelligence can help address it, then the priority should be removing obstacles rather than adding new ones.
Yet too often policy seems to pull in the opposite direction. Higher taxes on business, layered regulation and elevated energy prices all raise the cost of doing what those CFOs say they want to do: invest, innovate and compete. Each extra burden makes the optimistic outlook harder to realise. The contrast is striking. While business leaders grow more confident in technology's potential, government action risks making the environment in which that technology must deliver less hospitable.
