Austin, Texas, USA, February 28, 2025
Futurum Study Reveals Significant Projected Shift Toward More Advanced Stages of Generative AI Adoption
The corporate landscape is undergoing a significant transformation in its relationship with generative AI, as Futurum Research data reveals a substantial acceleration in adoption strategies across industries. A comparative analysis of 876 organizations shows that while only 11% currently characterize their AI utilization as “transformational,” this figure is projected to more than double to 27% in the near future—a significant shift highlighting the technology’s evolving role from being an experimental tool to core business driver. Simultaneously, the proportion of enterprises remaining in early-stage awareness and experimentation phases is decreasing rapidly, dropping from 34% to 15%.
The survey asked respondents to place their organization in one of five stages of maturity now and where they expect to be in 12 months’ time using the same scale. The five stages were:
Stage 1: AI Awareness – Organizations recognize generative AI’s potential but lack practical experience, featuring limited AI literacy, no formal strategy, minimal experimentation, and a focus on foundational learning.
Stage 2: Experimentation – Teams conduct small-scale AI pilots, build initial skills, and identify viable use cases, though without enterprise-wide coordination or standardized processes.
Stage 3: Optimization – Organizations formalize AI strategies, deploy tools broadly, improve workforce literacy, integrate AI into critical workflows, and measure productivity gains.
Stage 4: Standardization – Enterprises systematize AI adoption through cross-department tools, cultural innovation, enhanced communication protocols, and scaled automation for enterprise-wide efficiency.
Stage 5: Transformation – AI becomes a competitive cornerstone, fully embedded in operations to drive industry leadership, maximize productivity, and disrupt traditional business models through continuous AI evolution.
Figure 1: Current & Future Gen AI Usage
Nick Patience, VP & AI Practice Lead at Futurum, said, “Organizations are rapidly progressing beyond experimentation, with a third already optimizing their AI implementations and another 23% achieving standardization – signaling a fundamental shift where generative AI is becoming a competitive cornerstone rather than just a testing ground.”
The data in figure 1 reveals several key implications:
- Organizations anticipate a rapid acceleration in their AI maturity. They expect to move beyond initial awareness and experimentation phases toward more strategic and transformative implementations of generative AI.
- The substantial increase in standardization indicates that organizations are recognizing the importance of consistent and scalable AI practices across the enterprise.
- The sharp ruse in ‘transformation’ suggests that orgs view AI as the core driver of competitive advantage and business model innovation.
- The decrease in ‘awareness’ and ‘experimentation’ implies that organizations are becoming more confident and knowledgeable about the potential of generative AI and are ready to move beyond the initial learning phases.
In summary, the data paints a picture of a rapidly evolving landscape where organizations plan to advance their adoption of Gen AI in the near future leading, they hope, to business transformation.
Read more in the reports “2H 2024 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software & Tools Market Sizing & Forecast Report” and “2H 2024 AI Software & Tools Decision Maker Survey Report” available to subscribers on the Futurum Intelligence Platform.
About Futurum Intelligence for Market Leaders
Futurum Intelligence’s AI Software & Tools IQ service provides actionable insight from analysts, reports, and interactive visualization datasets, helping leaders drive their organizations through transformation and business growth. Subscribers can log into the platform at https://app.futurumgroup.com/, and non-subscribers can find additional information at Futurum Intelligence.
Follow news and updates from Futurum on X and LinkedIn using #Futurum. Visit the Futurum Newsroom for more information and insights.
Other insights from The Futurum Group:
Futurum Intelligence AI Software & Tools IQ
Futurum Research 2025 Key Issues & Predictions
AI Software Market Shows Strong Growth as Organizations Accelerate AI Adoption
Author Information
Nick is VP and Practice Lead for AI at The Futurum Group. Nick is a thought leader on the development, deployment and adoption of AI - an area he has been researching for 25 years. Prior to Futurum, Nick was a Managing Analyst with S&P Global Market Intelligence, with responsibility for 451 Research’s coverage of Data, AI, Analytics, Information Security and Risk. Nick became part of S&P Global through its 2019 acquisition of 451 Research, a pioneering analyst firm Nick co-founded in 1999. He is a sought-after speaker and advisor, known for his expertise in the drivers of AI adoption, industry use cases, and the infrastructure behind its development and deployment. Nick also spent three years as a product marketing lead at Recommind (now part of OpenText), a machine learning-driven eDiscovery software company. Nick is based in London.
